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When Sandifer Thomas had to shut down her Direct Thy Path day care center because of the coronavirus pandemic, she worried how it would affect not just her, but her employees and the families they serve.
As it became clear schools and day cares needed to remain closed to slow the spread of the virus, Thomas knew she needed help. She had to furlough her workers and tried to apply for a loan through the Paycheck Protection Program.
“I’m going to run out of money,” she said.
She said that without a PPP loan, she couldn’t pay bills for the center or her employees’ salaries. She said she struggled to even apply for a loan through her bank, which to her made little sense because the economic crisis was devastating small businesses like hers.
“We need that funding way worse than these people who can employ 500 employees,” Thomas said.
While she worried about her employees, she also heard from nervous parents, many of whom have limited child care options. She said her team cares for 72 children, mostly from families who qualify for government child care assistance.
“They have no one else to turn to,” Thomas said.
One of those parents, Ashley Zervos, 22, said she’s not been able to return to her job as a medical assistant because she’s had to stay with her two children since the day care closed.
“I don’t have anyone to watch my son or my daughter,” she said.
Zervos said that she’s always paid her bills on time, but after using up her savings and her partner being laid off from his job, she’s struggling to make ends meet. She said her anxiety has been “out of the roof” so she’s had to increase the dosage of her medication.
“I’m already behind on my bills,” she said. “I have absolutely nothing to my name.”
Patricia Perez, 31, of Joliet, who’s worked for Thomas for more than a decade, said she’s also heard from parents asking when the center may reopen. Perez said she sees how the pandemic is affecting them in all sorts of ways.
“It’s really like a domino effect,” she said.
Because she’s not working, Perez is focused on caring for her two daughters. They started remote learning for school, which Perez said has taken time to get the hang of.
She said she filed for unemployment benefits earlier this month. Still, she said, if the day care remains closed through the summer, she’s not quite sure yet what she’ll do.
“I would honestly have to figure something out,” Perez said.
Thomas said she couldn’t lose her employees to other jobs. She said it takes time to find qualified workers to care for children. It would especially hurt to lose employees like Perez, whom Thomas has worked with for a long time.
“If my employees don’t return, I can’t open my doors,” Thomas said. “It’s not like we can hire somebody off the street and start the next day.”
Then on Monday, Thomas said, she learned she was approved for a PPP loan. She said it felt like a “ton of bricks” was lifted off her. The $65,000 loan will allow her to pay her 13 employees for about two and a half months.
“It buys us some time,” she said.
Thomas said she was lucky because some other small-business owners she knows told her they struggled to get approved for a loan. She added that it helped that she had previously gone through the process of getting a loan, so she knew what to do.
But now with Illinois schools closed through the rest of the academic year, Thomas wonders what that means for day care centers like hers going forward.
“I know what’s going on for two and a half months,” she said. “After that, we don’t know.”
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April 22, 2020 at 06:00PM
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Workers, parents struggle after closing of Joliet day care during pandemic - The Herald-News
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