New Life Child Care Center
When Ruby McKinzie adopted her four children in 1994, she and her husband were overjoyed but also faced with a dilemma: how to pay for childcare while they worked.
And then the answer came to her – literally. “I was working at a bookstore at the time,” Ruby says. “And a lady walked in, talking about how she was getting her garage redone for an in-home child care center.”
Ruby and her family were living in a house in Goldsboro that was previously owned by a ceramics sculptor with an at-home studio. “I jumped on the phone and called my husband,” Ruby says. “I told him ‘I know what we can do with that big room!’”
Ruby, who raised a foster child with such care that representatives of social services started encouraging her to consider adoption, loves kids. She describes herself as a natural Mother Hen. “Kids take to me,” she says.
Ruby sought advice from other area at-home child care center owners on everything from how to decorate and arrange the room to what books and toys she should keep on hand.
One month later, Ruby had earned a license for an in-home child care center. “I had a place for my kids, and now I had a business going,” she says. “I was really, really tickled.”
One Sunday afternoon, however, her pastor informed her “the Lord’s going to move you out” into another building. Ruby’s at-home center was licensed for eight children, and her pastor saw the scale of Ruby’s work expanding.
“My husband went looking and looking,” she says. “One morning, driving to work (on East New Hope Road), he saw a little white building with a ‘for lease’ sign in the window.”
Ruby served 29 children in the little white building that served as home to her New Life Child Care for 10 successful years, building a strong rapport with her families. “I have good relationships with all of my parents,” Ruby says. “My husband is always laughing, he tells me, ‘The kids’ parents act like you’re another mama. Whenever they get into any kind of trouble, they call you!”
Yet years of active use combined with an absentee landlord took its toll on the facility. Ruby, already familiar with the Self-Help name after securing a small working capital loan to repair flood damage from Hurricane Floyd, turned to us again as she looked for a better place to care for her children.
Greenville loan officer Teresa Scarlett says that even though Ruby and her husband had less-than-perfect credit, she was impressed with Ruby from the moment she visited the business. “(The first center) was in bad shape,” she says. “The door couldn’t be locked and the landlord let the roof leak… It was an awful building, but Ruby’s center was so cheerful inside. It was more than a storage unit for children; it was just a really good place to be.”
Also striking was how multicultural the children and staff of the center were. “You don’t often see that in child care centers today,” Teresa says.
In November 2003, Self-Help loaned Ruby $17,500 to purchase the lot directly across the street from her first center. She couldn’t afford to buy a building at the time, so she just started with the land.
A little more than two years later, Ruby was able to borrow an additional $132,000 for the construction of a new building on the property. For Ruby, the hardest part of the loan was the decision to use her home as collateral. “She’s committed to this business,” Teresa says.
Teresa admired Ruby’s tenacity. “There wasn’t a single thing she wanted to do that I had a million reasons why not, but she did everything in her power to accomplish her vision,” she says. “She stays upbeat and chooses joy.”
In the time between the initial budget projection and the actual building process, the City of Goldsboro passed new construction guidelines. To make the necessary changes, Ruby needed another $18,500. A working capital loan for that amount was extended in May.
“(Teresa) worked with me a long time,” Ruby says. “We had a lot of hard times, but she always stepped to it and we pressed for a loan until it finally came. It’s not that hard if you have a person that works with you in a nice and easy way like Teresa does. She was wonderful.”
New Life Child Care Center opened for business at its brand-new building on May 1, 2007. The new location was licensed for 39 spots, and word traveled fast among local parents. “At the brand-new building, I didn’t have time to advertise,” she says. “They were here before I had time to advertise.”
Ruby expanded the center’s hours to include a second shift and Saturday service to better meet the needs of busy parents. Ruby and her six teachers care for children from 6:30 a.m. to midnight six days a week.
Including the full day she spends at church on Sundays, Ruby says she works seven days a week. “Soon I’m going to start taking a day off,” Ruby says with a smile.
Her philosophy is to balance structure with the individual interests of the children. “Kids need a chance to do what they want to do,” Ruby says. “We try to create a good learning environment.”
The children at her center take part in a multitude of activities. They practice computer skills, work together at the game table, play outside, and even take drum lessons. Ruby and her teachers also expose them to a variety of off-site experiences: the children ride horses, swim at the YMCA, see new museum exhibits, and visit parks.
Ruby prioritizes developing trust with her clients above all else. “We encourage parents to call back and check on (their children), to drop in whenever they want,” she says. “If a center requires you to call ahead before you come, that’s a bad sign.”
Always enterprising, Ruby has more exciting plans for New Life Child Care. Within the next year, she plans to buy the lot adjacent to her current property.
“I would like to have a building for the after-school crowd and to be able to qualify for More at Four (a state-funded pre-kindergarten program designed to prepare at-risk four-year-olds for success in school),” Ruby says. “I would like to be able to accept more kids – it’d be great to get to the point where we’re licensed for 80.”
No matter how big the scope of New Life Child Care Center, Ruby will stick her basic goals. “We try to make a second place for children to feel comfortable in the absence of their parents,” she says. “We want to be a good substitute for Mom and Dad.”
