Dedicated in 2007, the Panichi Center was substantially funded by the Panichi family, which owns and operates Royal Carting. In the early 2000s, Evelyn Panichi, the daughter of Emil and Emily Panichi, recognized the need to expand the then-Saint Francis Hospital special needs preschool, moving it from worn-down trailers parked on a vacant parcel and into a clean and modern 8,500 square-foot space.

Evelyn rallied her family for major initial financial support, later helped endow the future of the Center in 2010, and continues to be personally involved in its operations to this day — down to organizing a partnership with the nearby Dutchess Day School to provide artwork for the Center’s walls.