Crystal Lake preschool searches for new home to avoid shutting down after losing its church lease

When Crystal Lake-based Purple Moose Enrichment Preschool owner and director Anna Linscheid was notified that her lease would not be renewed, she was stunned.

The news means that she either has to find a new location or shut down.

“It was just beyond shock,” she said. “We would never have expected that.”

Purple Moose, 3419 Walkup Road, had been leasing from Shiloh Church for seven years and has been in the community for 39 years. The school previously rented from St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Crystal Lake.

“When we moved here, we thought that this was the Moose’s final home for a long time,” Linscheid said.

Since registration is currently open for the next academic year, Linscheid decided to release a statement to notify parents that Purple Moose might no longer be in business by this fall.

The nonprofit preschool serves almost 100 children ages 2 to 6 and has 13 employees. The enrichment part of the school means each month the school focuses on a specific theme, such as the human body or dinosaurs.

“That’s why we are having such a hard time – because we have such a large space requirement because we have so many programs going on all at the same time,” Linscheid said.

Shiloh Church emailed a statement to the Northwest Herald saying the church plans to use the space “differently during the week.” The church also said hosting the preschool has been “an honor and a pleasure.”

“Our children’s ministry is growing, and we have other classes and programs that we want to develop in the classrooms currently in use by Purple Moose,” according to the statement.

Community members immediately started to help Linscheid find a new home for the school. Within 24 hours of the announcement, dozens of people were sending staff location suggestions and words of support, she said.

“It’s just amazing what they’re all saying,” Purple Moose director and teacher Wendy Sessler said, adding that she’s heard from people whose kids went to Purple Moose many years ago.

Parent Matthew Sommerfield is not surprised by the response of strong community support and hopes the “power of social media” helps prevent Purple Moose from closing.

“The people there are great people,” he said. “It’s not just a school and a rental, it’s a relationship.”

Sommerfield worked at the church as the operations director when it was called the Christian Fellowship Church and started the lease agreement with Purple Moose almost eight years ago.

His goal was to create a community with the school and the church, and now he feels compelled to help Purple Moose find a new home.

“Until God flashes me with lightning and says ‘stop’ or they find a place, I’m not going to stop helping them,” Sommerfield said.

But not just any location will do. Illinois Department of Children and Family Services requirements on sprinklers, exits and plumbing drastically narrow valid options, Linscheid said.

“The combination of all of those requirements prevent us from finding anything at all,” she said.

Linscheid also hopes to stay in Crystal Lake or within a 10-minute driving radius from the current location.

“Once we start to go outside of that 10 minutes, we might as well be half an hour away or 45 minutes away,” she said. “It changes the whole perspective on how we work with our community.”