Just over a year ago, Spree Manuel Sillmon launched Peculiar Kids, a nonprofit daycare for infants up to age 16.

The story of the center opening is one of hope and in over a year, their grade from the state is an excellent score with zero deficiencies.

Originally they only accepted young kids, but increased the age to 16 for kids who may need before and after care during the school year. Every Monday through Friday morning, they host a learning time for kids 6 weeks to 4 years.

As a Type 3 daycare which falls under the umbrella of the Louisiana Department of Education, they receive monetary assistance from the state in the form of Child Care assistance payments.

Since opening May 25, 2022, they received an excellent score with zero deficiencies, but haven’t neared their 47 child capacity.

While Sillmon said she doesn’t want to reach capacity, she wants to see at least 35 to 40 kids.

Sillmon has several years of experience with the school system as a lab manager and secretary at Daspit Elementary and Jeanerette High School. She also served with the SMILE (St. Martin, Iberia, Lafayette) Community Action Agency Head Start program along with infant teacher and assistant director, Elizabeth Malveaux, and Pre-K supervisor Cassandra Zacharie. Together, they learned how to build effective programming to guide and develop children. Sillmon said the techniques they learned at SMILE were ahead of the game.

“The stuff we are doing now with the Louisiana Department of Education was stuff we were doing in 2010 with our children,” Sillmon said.

Together, they decided to go the non-profit route to accomplish several things. First, they based the principles of the new daycare on non-profit SMILE. Second, they wanted access to grants and public funding. Finally, they wanted to provide daycare services to parents at lower costs for those who might be struggling.

Sillmon raised concerns that people misunderstand and misinterpret the meaning of the name, Peculiar Kids. Some thought it referred to children with special needs, while others believed it was possibly a pretentious name for gifted kids, however, there is no limit to who Peculiar Kids accepts.

“Whenever we got together for a training, we had to introduce ourselves, and when it was my turn, they couldn’t wait to ask me what that name, Peculiar Kids means,” Sillmon said.

In reality, Sillmon used the name to honor her faith. She drew the name from the Bible, 1 Peter 2:9 , which says that we are a peculiar people, a royal priesthood, chosen and set apart by God.

“There are no two children that are the same. They are special, they are unique, they are set apart in their own ways. Some of them have high energy and some of them have low energy,” Sillmon said.

Sillmon chose to change the word people, from the bible verse, and replace it with kids. Peculiar Kids isn’t a faith-based daycare, but as a woman of faith, she wanted to simply honor God with the name.

“I don’t want people to not choose us because I am personally faith-based and a Christian, I just wanted to honor God in my business by having him in the name,” Sillmon said.

Sillmon didn’t attend a four-year college, and wants to show the youth that college is not their only option for success. Sillmon received her Technical Diploma from Louisiana Technical College in 2006, when she started working at SMILE. She doesn’t want children to look down on themselves because people around them are going to college. Now, she’s attending SLCC and plans to transfer to Northwestern to receive her bachelor’s degree.

“I want young children to know that just because you don’t go to a four-year university, whether you go to technical school or community college, you can make something of yourself and be a business owner and give back to your community,” Sillmon said.

Sillmon cooks homestyle southern and Creole meals like Red Beans and Rice, Chicken Stew and cornbread for the kids. While the meals are delicious and nutritious, Sillmon mainly wanted to avoid giving kids cheap, highly processed foods and promote a willingness to try new things. To further supplant this idea, Sillmon plans to install a garden to teach her kids about sustainability and patience.

Growing up, Sillmon’s mom worked as a legal secretary and her dad worked offshore, so she spent her summers with her now 92-year-old grandmother. Her grandma lived in Jeanerette, and when workers at Jeanerette Mills needed a strong individual to take care of their kids, she stepped up to the plate.

“I stayed with her in the summers and watching her take care of other people’s children and cooking delicious red beans and chicken stew. I wanted to be just like her. She’s now 92 and still alive and very proud of me,” Sillmon said.

Sillmon said she is glad to put her negative experiences of being judged for not attending college to a positive use and to have the opportunity to guide youth to promote self-love and acceptance.

“I wanted to give back to children and be a mentor and let them know, just because you’re different, just because you’re short, tall, fat, skinny, black, white, purple, green, doesn’t make you any less than anybody else,” Sillmon concluded.