On her 75th birthday, Nora Feury, dubbed “the legend,” received quite the gift: the opening of a daycare center in her name, courtesy of Mosholu Montefiore Community Center (MMCC).

“I never expected to get a present like this,” said Feury, who spoke to a small crowd just a few minutes before being given a pair of scissors to cut the ceremonial ribbon outside the center.

The eponymous center in Crotona Park is a kind of living tribute for Feury, who has consulted for MMCC on matters related to child care for years and whose entire life has been spent cultivating children’s upbringing. At a Jan. 16 ceremony marking the official opening for the center—a Head Start program found at the first floor of a six-story residential building at 887 Crotona Park North—Feury was showered with a hugs and smiles as she passed a portrait that hangs the moment visitors step foot into the center that caters to children age four and under.

It was a moment where Agnes Vendiola, MMCC’s director for the child development center, couldn’t hold back tears on Feury’s impact. “She touches lives. She made a difference in our lives, and she’s just an amazing woman who will push you to the edge,” said Vendiola.

Feury herself served as the executive director of Little Angels, a daycare provider falling under the Archdiocese of New York. The Bronx-bred Feury, who grew up in the South Bronx and had an affinity for Crotona Park during her early years, served at the center for 40 years before retiring. Feury has kept active since, serving on Community Board 7 in several capacities, including chair at one point.

“Nora has been in this industry forever. Actually, back in the 1960s when the Head Start program actually started, she was the first pioneer to open up the first Head Start program and since then she has not stopped helping us, meaning the community, educating our children to make them who they are today: teachers, doctors, lawyers, contractors, engineers, electricians,” said Rita Santelia, MMCC’s executive director. “And Nora doesn’t stop giving.”

The center is funded through a grant totaling $2.1 million, which also went towards the opening of another center at 934 E. Gun Hill Rd. that’s named after MMCC’s current chairwoman, Natly Esnard. Both centers were opened at its respective communities given its status as a “high needs” neighborhood for such a program. MMCC now has five centers devoted to childcare.

Coincidentally, the Crotona Park site was once a daycare center that had closed several years before. The new center, with fresh coats of beige paint, offices, and classrooms named after some of the borough’s colleges, has 48 slots available to children age four or under. The service is free for families who meet certain income eligibility requirements.

“They said that Head Start is not going to last,” Feury recalled. “Well today, $22 billion is awarded to Head Start programs all across the United States. I was hoping that a Congressman or two would come and see the site and know the next time the bill for Head Start comes up in Congress that they will be able to look at it and know it’s for their community and that it just works.”

Though humbled by such a name, Feury reminded guests that the building belongs to them.

“All the Head Start people: this is not my building, it’s not Natly’s building, it’s your building,” said Feury. “They gave us the name, but it’s really yours.”

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.