SPRINGFIELD – More than 50 people participated in the grand opening of Joanna's Room at the Clough Street YWCA during a 10:30 a.m. ceremony on Wednesday, Feb. 21. The event marked the first time a Massachusetts YWCA shelter has ever offered an on-site preschool program in a battered women's shelter, according to Mary Reardon Johnson, executive director of the YWCA of Western Massachusetts.

With its brightly painted walls and educational toys, the room is named after the 7-year-old daughter of state Sen. Stephen J. Buoniconti, D-West Springfield.

Joanna Buoniconti suffers from spinal muscular atrophy. Her father helped secure state funding for the project and Baystate Health donated $10,000 to the preschool.

"The opening of this preschool is something this community can be proud of," said Johnson. "It's about being celebrated and loved by the community you come from," she said.