For many parents these days, finding affordable child care is a struggle.
But in areas such as Lewis County, it can be even more difficult, especially in the rural areas away from Interstate 5.
That’s why Lakeda Sullivan is working to open the Touched By One, Touched By All Community & Childcare Center in Onalaska, on top of already running the Lakeda House Family Daycare out of her own home.
“It’s a childcare desert out here,” Sullivan said.
She is currently applying for state grant funding and has started a gofundme.com campaign to raise money for construction of the new community center.
The Chronicle visited Sullivan at her Onalaska home on Tuesday, April 1, to talk about her efforts and the community’s needs.
Given her goal is to build an entirely new community and childcare center, she knows she needs a lot of money, but it isn’t deterring her from trying.
“It’s no guarantees (for grant funding). For some reason, Lewis County is always skipped when it comes to funding. I don’t know what happens,” Sullivan said.
Originally from Louisiana, Sullivan found herself in the Pacific Northwest after her husband got stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) in 2018. Prior to that, Sullivan was working in law enforcement in Louisiana before moving to Texas in 2012, where she switched careers to health education and worked for UT (University of Texas) Physicians.
In addition to running her daycare and being a mother of three, Sullivan is a state-licensed foster mother to two additional children and fostered other children previously.
Once stationed at JBLM, Sullivan and her husband both liked the region and decided to establish roots. They purchased land in Onalaska to build a new house, which was completed several years ago.
Though her husband — who has served in the U.S. Army since 2016 — is currently stationed in South Korea, Sullivan remained behind as she has now been running the Lakeda House Family Daycare out of their Onalaska home for two years.
With many Onalaska-area children not having anywhere to go after school — as their parents don’t get home from work until 5 or 6 p.m., or they face abusive situations — she decided to work to address that need with the community and childcare center.
However, one requirement for the community and childcare center grant funding she’s currently seeking is that the applicant has an education degree.
“I have to start here, because there’s a requirement for me to already work in the field since I don’t have a degree in teaching. I have a degree in community health, and I’ve worked with adults. I’ve been a mother all my life, but if I don’t have a teaching degree, then the state wants me to work with kids for so many years before I have a facility,” Sullivan said.
So establishing her in-home daycare not only helped some local children, but also helped her qualify for state grant funding without the teaching degree. Should she get the grant funding, it will go toward the Touched By One, Touched By All Community & Childcare Center in Onalaska.
Touched By One, Touched By All is also the name of the nonprofit she established while her husband was still stationed at JBLM to help families in need get diapers.
On top of still having a mobile diaper bank, the nonprofit also offers health coaching and community outreach services, as Sullivan is also licensed by the Washington state Department of Social and Health Services Developmental Disabilities Administration (DDA) to help those in the area living with developmental disabilities get out into the community.
“Touched By One, Touched By All was based off of my personal career path, of being a health educator,” Sullivan said. “That’s what I worked for the last 10 years doing, doing health coaching, working with primary care providers and multiple disciplinary teams.”
During her time working for UT Texas, she also saw the organization establish 12 community clinics throughout low-income areas in Houston, Texas, which inspired her to try to do the same with opening her childcare center in Onalaska.
Getting the Touched By One, Touched By All Community & Childcare Center open won’t just help out local families, but the Onalaska economy as well, as it will create jobs, Sullivan said.
With her daycare already established, she’s helped several local high school students stay close to home with work opportunities. One employee is even an Onalaska High School graduate who decided to stick around at least during college since she could still work at the daycare.
“We are trying to keep as many of our kids here as we can,” she added.
While Sullivan is pursuing state grant funding for a new community and childcare center, she has also been looking for already constructed buildings that also might be able to house her new community center.
Onalaska does have the Onalaska Community Youth Center located at 233 Central Ave. in Onalaska. It first opened in 2010. According to Sullivan, it’s now only open one day a week, and though she has tried to contact the Onalaska Community Youth Center’s owner to ask about using the building, she was turned down.
“I never even got out what I wanted to do. She was like, ‘I’m not interested,’” said Sullivan.
According to the Onalaska Community Youth Center’s Facebook page, the days it was open changed depending on volunteer availability. The Chronicle messaged the youth center on Facebook to ask about its current hours of availability but did not receive a response before print deadline on Friday, April 4.
Sullivan had her eyes on another vacant building next to Brenda’s County Market and the U.S. Post Office in Onalaska, but “after school childcare is currently allowed as a home-based business in an existing residence, or as an isolated small business,” according to an email Sullivan got from Lewis County Community Development planner Preston Pinkston.
While she’s already running her daycare out of her home, it isn’t big enough for what she wants to have for the Touched By One, Touched By All Community & Childcare Center.
Sullivan was still thankful for county staff’s assistance with her efforts, including those of Lewis County Public Health and Social Services Director Meja Handlen, who recently helped Sullivan get in contact with Lewis County Transit, which ended up donating a surplused van equipped with a wheelchair lift.
“Meja knows the work I’m doing, and she always praises me and I always praise her,” Sullivan added.
The wheelchair lift aids with Sullivan’s DDA work, as many of those she helps get out into the community are wheelchair-bound.
“Community engagement means they go out, get warm in the summer in the parks, because the caregivers are just only for in the home. They can’t take them to social activities,” Sullivan said. “So that’s where I come into play. They can go to the movies. I have one guy, he likes to go to the library. Even just going out to eat, you know? We go to Country Cousins.”
For those interested in donating toward the Touched By One, Touched By All Community & Childcare Center, visit Sullivan’s gofundme page at https://gofund.me/28cc70e9.
To learn more about Touched By One, Touched By All, visit its website at https://www.touchedbyone.com/.
If you know of a possible building Sullivan could use available in the Onalaska area, or are also a childcare professional looking to help her efforts, email her at lakedadaycare@yahoo.com.
