
DATE: Monday, November 3, 1997              TAG: 9711030245

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:   89 lines

CHILD-CARE CENTER AIDS CASH-STRAPPED PARENTS

It was Peter, Peter pumpkin fever at the Strawberry Lane Children's Harbor one day last week.

A dozen or so 6- to-12-year-olds huddled happily around a table where their teacher, Teresa Roseborough, guided knife-clasping hands to carve a face in a big, orange gourd. Nearby, a group of kids plastered strips of papier mache over inflated balloons to create paintable jack-o-lanterns.

The common-room activities kept about 30 kids happily occupied while their parents worked. In other areas of the South Norfolk child-care center, one- and two-year-olds played contentedly under the watchful eyes of trained teachers.

With five such centers in South Hampton Road, the nonprofit child-care organization provides a port in the storm for some 500 kids on a sliding-fee basis. Many of the parents are hard-pressed to pay the rising costs of making sure their children are well cared-for while they work.

The centers - two in Norfolk, one in Suffolk and one in Portsmouth, in addition to the Chesapeake location - are just one component of the services Children's Harbor provides for kids. A training program for caregivers, a USDA food program for in-home child-care providers that feeds 2,000 and a free after-school tutoring project for 25 South Norfolk youths are among the other offerings.

While some families can afford to pay the top rate - $100 a week for full-time care of a toddler - others, including those trying to work their way off welfare, can't. Grants and donations fill the financial gap.

Last year, United Way of South Hampton Roads provided nearly $400,000 of the centers' operating budget of some $4 million.

The United Way annual campaign, now underway, has raised $10,335,443 of its $15.5 million goal.

Children's Harbor executive director Toni Cacace-Beshears has made it a priority to reach out to families coming off welfare. As a former welfare recipient, she knows how tough it can be to make ends meet.

``It's tough to work and take care of kids,'' she says. ``If they're sick, if something happens at school, it's stop, drop and go'' for a working mom.

Cacace-Beshears needed welfare checks for about six months after a divorce that left her to raise an infant and children who were 2 and 4.

Felicia Parker of South Norfolk knows what it's like trying to juggle a job and children, as well.

For nine years - until about a year ago when she went to work - Parker was stuck on welfare. The married mother of four had trouble finding an affordable place for her children to go while she worked.

Parker works for a dry cleaning company, and her husband drives a truck. They live in Chesapeake's Broad Lawn public housing neighborhood. That makes their children eligible for Children's Harbor free tutorial program, two hours of homework help after school. The accompanying all-day summer activity program completes the picture for the Parkers.

``It was a blessing,'' said Parker, remembering the hot months as she waited for three of her youngsters to pack up their belongings and head home with her.

Children's Harbor grew out of the old Norfolk Nursery, an orphanage started in 1911. The merger with a Portsmouth child-care center three years ago was the beginning of the organization's reach into the other cities. Each center is unique.

The Ghent facility on 19th Street is licensed to care for 200 children, while the infant-toddler center on Bank Street in Norfolk cares for 60 little ones from 6 weeks to 2 years old.

At the Chesapeake center, director Roberta Scott gives a guided tour of the toddler rooms.

``That's their beginning,'' she says softly, watching Tracy Hendricks, ``Miss Tracy,'' blow bubbles for three 1-year-olds. ``They're trying out the world.

Everything in this large playroom is scaled for little ones. There's a kitchen cupboard and sink that stands about two feet high, for example.

In the next room, Carolyn Williams, dressed in pumpkin-orange baseball cap, boots and skirt, sits on the floor with a group of 2-year-olds playing with Legos.

``I get so many hugs during the day,'' says director Scott, closing the door quietly behind her. ``Can you imagine being loved all day?''

Cacace-Beshears hopes to expand the help that Children's Harbor offers to welfare moms.

``I want to be a resource center,'' she says. ``Refer to family services, be a broker for services.'' ILLUSTRATION: HUY NGUYEN/The Virginian-Pilot

Teresa Roseborough requests help with carving a pumpkin and gets a

bevy of volunteers from some children at Children's Harbor

child-care center in Chesapeake. The center also trains caregivers

and tutors older children.

1997 UNITED WAY GOAL

VP Chart

SOURCE: United Way