'What I'm meant to be doing': After losing her mother to cancer, Altoona woman re-opens their day care

Growing up, Niki Sinn's Altoona home was constantly bustling with the sounds of children at play.

Her mother, Debi Scharf, known as “Momma” in the neighborhood, cared for children at her in-home day care despite battling medical issues from a 1993 car accident that left her in a wheelchair. 

She also welcomed more than a half-dozen foster children through the years while raising two kids of her own. 

"There's nothing that would stop her from loving those kids," Sinn said. “Our door was always open."

Health issues forced Scharf to close the business in 2016. She was later diagnosed with cancer and died this summer. 

Now, Sinn and friend Andrea Rink are bringing the sounds of children back to the Altoona house. 

They recently opened Sonshine Kids, a faith-based day care in the home where Scharf lived and ran her business. 

“The thing that Mom and I shared the most was making sure each child was not only loved by us but also loved by God,” Sinn said. “That is a huge thing that we are doing in this day care, is making sure that these kids know they’re not alone in this life."

'She was a kid magnet'

Scharf was driving home from Big Creek State Park with her two children and two young day care children in the back seat in August 1993 when the vehicle jolted as it hit a raised railroad crossing north of Polk City. 

The van went airborne, and the return impact broke one of Scharf's vertebrae, damaging her spinal cord. 

None of the children were injured, but Scharf was paralyzed from the waist down.

Sinn said her family believed there was purpose in the midst of tragedy. 

"There was a reason why she was still here and had gone through all of that stuff she went through," Sinn said. 

Scharf continued to work with children, but she scaled back her business. For a few years she joined the Altoona Herald staff and began penning a column called “Debi’s Ditties.” 

Scharf returned to child care full time in 2012 when she opened Altoona’s Best Childcare — "ABC" for short — with her daughter. 

The day care gave Scharf the grandchildren she badly wanted but didn't have yet, Sinn said. She and her mother used to joke abut that. 

Since the accident, her mother had lost a legs to amputation after a fall from her wheelchair. She worried her injuries would scare the children, Sinn said, but they actually drew them to her. 

"With the wheelchair, all the kids would come up to her and they were at eye level with her, so she just felt more of a connection with them," Sinn said. "She was a kid magnet." 

They operated the day care out of their home for four years until Scharf's health issues forced her to stop.

Sinn began raising the family's three foster children. 

'What I'm meant to be doing'

Rink also lost a parent last year. Her father, Andrew Lara, died of a heart attack in February.

“This year has really been about change for both of us,” Rink said. “We’ve really been able to just be there for each other and support each other through that.”  

Sinn said she had long thought of reopening the day care. Her mother's death helped her realize that child care is her calling, she said.  

“After my mom passed, I knew that this life was too short. I need to be doing what I’m meant to be doing,” she said.  

But she "didn't believe in a million years" she would be opening it in her childhood home.  

Sinn and her husband, Nick, live in the home. They have renovated the basement into child care rooms. The home's backyard opens to Phoenix Park, with Willowbrook Elementary lying just to the east.

Like Sinn, Rink grew up with a mother who ran an in-home day care. She has worked with children most of her career through positions at West Des Moines Community Schools, Orchard Place and a company that assisted the Department of Human Services in child abuse and neglect cases. 

As Polk County has recently faced a shortage of child care providers, Sinn and Rink hope the day care will fill a need, particularly for families seeking faith-based child care. 

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Sinn said she considered keeping her mother's business title but decided to change the name to highlight its Christian focus. She said activities will include Bible stories and memorization of Bible verses along with other educational activities and field trips to the zoo and water park. 

Sonshine Kids 

WHERE: 1902 Fourth St. SW, Altoona

HOURS: 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday (care also available on some weekends)

RATES: $150 to $200 per week for full-time (up to 9 hours a day); $100 for part-time (less than 40 hours per week)

CONTACT: 515-771-4595