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Kelsey Carlson calls me from the road, as she drives the quiet ribbon of highway connecting the hospital where she works to the small-town child care that has changed her life.

Not long ago, when her daughter, Avery, went to a different child care, Kelsey would sob while driving to pick her up. She worried her daughter wasn't safe. She dreaded the thought that Avery was planted in front of a TV. She cried because she felt terrified she was failing at work and failing her child.

Today, as Kelsey drives to pick up her daughter, her fear has vanished. A year ago, the Carlsons moved Avery to The Valley Child Development Center, a one-of-a-kind center in Red Cloud, Nebraska.

Now, as she drives, Kelsey tells me she knows that Avery is safe, stimulated and learning all sorts of things faster than her parents thought possible.

"That sense of security is absolutely priceless as a parent," Kelsey says. "And then to get top-notch early education on top of that?"

"I feel like The Valley Child Development Center saved us, in some way. I really do."

I smile when Kelsey says this. Red Cloud is my hometown. My mother, Sally Hansen, a retired early childhood educator, helped spearhead the years-long effort to open this high-quality child care everyone calls TVCDC. Relatives, friends, people I have known my whole life, banded together to turn this dream into reality.

The reality: Three years after opening, TVCDC gives nearly 70 children a high-quality early childhood education in Red Cloud-the sort of education simply unavailable in most small towns.

It's a stunning rural Nebraska success story. It's a hard-earned miracle in my no-stoplight hometown. And it's a lesson for Nebraska towns wanting to follow Red Cloud's lead.

"Small-town kids deserve to thrive, too," says Meggan Messersmith, the center's director. "This place is going to help produce high-quality humans. And it's going to help Red Cloud succeed."

A few years ago, there was only one licensed child care, a small in-home provider, within a 20-mile radius of this south-central Nebraska town.

This lack of quality child care is depressingly common. Eleven counties in the state have no licensed providers. Almost every county has fewer slots than families need.

But what is uncommon is what Red Cloud's residents decided to do. They raised $2.1 million to build TVCDC. They donated more money to construct two outdoor classrooms and small-town Nebraska's first official edible schoolyard, a garden-and-food education program.

The solution wasn't just brick, mortar and dirt. TVCDC's founders make sure to keep the teacher-to-student ratio low. They hire certified teachers. They keep the monthly cost to parents as low as possible, even though that guarantees a persistent funding gap that must be closed with constant fundraising.

In short, they strive to give these small-town kids all the things that many city and suburban parents expect for their own young children.

It is easy to see TVCDC's value when you see it through Kelsey Carlson's eyes.

Momma Carlson's first concern: Safety. Avery Carlson developed a soft spot on her head at her old day care, from lying flat too much. At TVCDC, Avery Carlson immediately started to get more tummy time. The soft spot healed. Avery avoided having to wear a helmet.

The TVCDC teachers communicate with Kelsey Carlson via a smartphone app and in-person chats. Now, when Kelsey eats lunch at the hospital, she looks at the photos of her daughter from that morning and reads updates on how her day is going.

"I am involved in my child's life, even when I'm not there," Kelsey Carlson says.

And Avery Carlson isn't just being cared for lovingly. She's also constantly learning, even though it feels to her like play.

She's building her large motor and fine motor skills. She walks on a balance beam, hops on the hopping stones in the outdoor classroom and does art projects that emphasize hand-eye coordination.

Avery's language development has exploded, because her teachers speak to her constantly. They also constantly read to the toddlers, and teach them sign language.

Avery is also learning little lessons that will help her grow into a socially and emotionally healthy grade schooler, teenager, and adult.

She's learning how to control her temper. She's learning empathy.

Kelsey Carlson keeps extolling the virtues of this early education as she drives. She's 10 minutes from Red Cloud, then five, then sitting in her car in the parking lot. She wants to tell me a few more things-things that should grab the attention of any small-town leader.

Kelsey says she has become a better parent because of TVCDC. She has learned from Avery's teachers, too.

She says the Carlson family will stay in Red Cloud thanks in large part to The Valley Child Development Center.

And Kelsey says that she and her husband are thinking about having a second child, which they will enroll at the center that has changed the Carlsons' lives.

"We can have another kid, we can live in this small town we love, and we can feel so good about that," she says. "Honestly, for us, it's a dream come true."

Then Kelsey Carlson excuses herself. It's time to pick up her first child from child care, give her a hug and take her home.

Matthew Hansen is the managing editor of the Buffett Early Childhood Institute at the University of Nebraska and an award-winning Nebraska reporter and columnist.