Cultivating Happiness

Busy Bee Child Development Center is a family-owned child care facility located in Chula Vista. Its owner, Mary Anne Canales, was inspired to open a center in the neighborhood where she grew up—a community where she recognized a strong need for affordable, reliable and high quality child care.

Not only did she achieve her goal of opening a child care facility, but she cultivated a welcoming environment where children, families and staff are greeted each day with a warm smile and contagious enthusiasm.

Busy Bee is more than just a place for children while their parents are at work. It is a place where children learn, play and receive nurturing care in a safe, supportive and welcoming environment.

Navigating Obstacles

For most families looking from the outside, child care is a simple business transaction. Families pay child care providers to take care of their children while they work. However, for Mary Anne, there is so much more being considered behind the scenes: paying staff a thriving wage, feeding the children nutritious meals, investing in quality curriculum & materials and most of all, keeping up with health and safety standards for her students.

Last fall, during the longest government shut down in history, Mary Ann was faced with the possibility of shutting her doors. Due to the socioeconomic needs of her community, some families rely on subsidies to pay for care, so while these subsidies were tied up in the shutdown, so was her ability to stay afloat.

Fortunately, she did not give up and weathered the storm with her signature enthusiasm and smile. Though internally, there are running lists, dialogues and issues to manage, Mary Anne is able to provide a happy and safe environment at Busy Bees, but sometimes issues present themselves externally.

Covered with Care

Recently, acts of vandalism and broken windows threatened to disrupt the sense of security that Busy Bee Child Development Center works so hard to provide. While Mary Anne cannot control the actions of others, she responded with resilience and a commitment to protecting the positive environment she has built.

After sweeping up the shattered glass from the floors where children are welcomed everyday and boarding up the damaged windows until repairs could be made, she found a way to transform an unfortunate situation into something meaningful. She invited her students to create large, colorful drawings to cover the boarded windows, replacing a reminder of tragedy with hope and joy.

Busy Bee is more than a child care facility. It is more than a place where children are nurtured, it is hope, joy and care cultivated every day. Even in the face of adversity.