By Paige Rogers*
Last April YWCA Walla Walla expanded its childcare options by opening a full-time facility dedicated to caring for the community’s youngest children.
Located in Dayton, Rosemary’s Place is an offshoot of My Friend’s House, the YWCA childcare facility on Birch Street in Walla Walla. Children ages 6 weeks to 6 years are admitted.
Anita Jackson, a gregarious woman who laughs easily, is the lead infant caretaker at Rosemary’s Place. A mother of four, she knows a thing or two about nurturing babies and young children.
A sense of community
“I absolutely adore working here. Actually, I can’t imagine working any place else.” When pressed to say more, Anita points to the strong sense of community that upholds Rosemary’s Place.
“You work so closely with the parents and there are so many community members who want to be a part of working with kids.”
She loves the fact that some volunteers like to read to the kids while others create pint sized science experiments for them to try. “They want to help however they can.”
Anita often takes the children on excursions and one of her favorite trips is to visit The Cottages, an assisted living facility near the hospital in Dayton.
An opportunity to shine
Every year the Dayton Chamber of Commerce holds an annual Community Awards Ceremony to celebrate businesses in the community. They approached YWCA Director of Childcare, Tabitha Haney, to see if someone from Rosemary’s Place might want to decorate a few tables with centerpieces that the honorees could take home.
The first person who came to mind was Anita. She’s well known for her design skills and is always the one to decorate the facility for holidays. Anita immediately accepted the challenge. After all, this was a chance for Rosemary’s Place to represent themselves as a new business in the Dayton community.
Sending a colorful message
First, she asked herself “What says childcare?”
Then, Anita let her imagination lead her, despite not having the exact craft skills required. Her first step was to attach colorful crayons around a large candle. She chuckled, “My boyfriend had to show me how to use a glue gun!”
Since the mascot of Rosemary’s Place is an elephant, this too was included, along with the fragrant herb that the daycare is named after.
It’s obvious when speaking with Anita that she is very happy working at Rosemary’s Place and proud to have represented them locally. “There’s just a huge sense of community at work.” If asked next year, she said she’d be more than willing to create themed centerpieces again. “I’m happy to contribute to such a wonderful community!”
Anita consults her notes while decorating a table to represent RoseMary’s Place at the Dayton Chamber of Commerce awards banquet.
*YWCA Volunteer Paige Rogers recently directed Rhinoceros at the Harper Joy Theater on Whitman’s campus. She holds an English degree from Princeton University and a Masters in Journalism from the University of Wroclaw.