THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 22, 1994 TAG: 9406210167
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAM STARR, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940622 LENGTH: Long
The Harbour Point residents call P-Nut Butter N Jelly child-care service about three times a week because they could never find a reliable baby sitter after moving here from Florida last summer. They go out knowing that Ashley and Austin will be taken care of by a sitter who is older than 18, has a clean background check and is probably certified in CPR and first aid.
{REST} It's well worth the extra money to pay for peace of mind, said Sandra Gore.
``We don't have to worry about doing a background check or anything,'' she said. ``We've had real good luck with this service - I can just call them up and get a sitter within minutes.''
P-Nut Butter N Jelly is the brainchild of Kathy Beck, a licensed day-care provider for 12 years who has lived in Virginia Beach for eight years. After she moved into her oceanfront house two years ago, she started looking for ways to expand her day-care business. Beck figured that tourists needed sitters just as much as any other parent - maybe even more so - and inquired at various hotels.
``I was amazed that only a couple of hotels offered baby-sitting to their guests,'' said Beck, a motherly woman with frosted brown hair and a soft voice.
``Everyone I talked to was interested. I thought, why not hire people and send them to these hotels to baby-sit?''
The idea stuck, and Beck incorporated P-Nut Butter N Jelly into a business in 1992. The sitters she hires have to pass a state background check, a child protective services investigation and checks on three to four personal references. The first year she had 75 employees. But her service has proven so popular that Beck is trying to hire 150 more sitters this summer to bring her roster up to 300 to service more than 100 local hotels. She even has staffers who specialize in elder care.
Beck receives about 40 requests a week but that should jump to almost 100 now that school is out.
``One night we can have 15 girls just in the Ramada on 57th,'' said Beck, a 40ish divorced mother of two and grandmother of one. ``I stay very busy with this. I'm trying to make parents not have a guilt trip - they need time away from their kids when they're on vacation.''
It was oppressively hot and muggy at the Holiday Trav-L Park on General Booth Boulevard last week, but Alain and Nathalie Codere were determined to ride bikes to the oceanfront - without their two children.
The French-Canadian couple asked owner Ginny Bosher if a baby sitter was available for that Thursday and Bosher called Beck's service. Two sitters, Sandra Hosley and Gwendolyn Long, were dispatched to the couple's camper to watch 4-year-old Fred and 6-month-old Elodye.
Alain filled out the forms that the sitters brought with them while Nathalie got ready for the ride. Long, 23, held the blue-eyed baby over her shoulder as Hosley, 19, cooed at the infant.
``Where's your big brother hiding? Huh?'' she asked the smiling baby. ``Where's Frederick?''
Fred was hiding behind his mother and hung his head, trying not to cry. A few French words of encouragement from mom and a hug from dad made him feel better and soon he was ready to go to the swimming pool with the sitters. Bosher, whose husband, Phil Upton, is French-Canadian, said that this summer is the first time they've used the service.
``We get requests for baby sitters a lot,'' she said. ``They always want to go out to dinner - I think this is a great idea.''
Over at the Gores' condo in Rudee Inlet Amber Burton was holding court with Ashley and Austin, showing them the Disney videos and Candyland game she had brought. They take turns sitting on her lap and wait for Burton to set up the game. Burton, 20, has been in town for two months and ``loves'' the work. The military wife gets paid $5 an hour and goes on about four jobs a week.
``It's not like baby-sitting,'' said Burton, dressed in dark shorts and a gold T-shirt with P-Nut Butter N Jelly imprinted on the front. ``The parents like it a lot because we don't just stay in the room with the kids. We walk on the beach, build sandcastles. It's a lot of fun - I'm a big kid myself.''
Oceanfront hotels found an immediate need for Beck's service. Marsha Ellsworth, assistant general manager of the Holiday Inn Sunspree Resort, said that families always look for qualified baby sitters and the guests think P-Nut Butter N Jelly is ``wonderful.'' In fact, Ellsworth has received more than a dozen letters from guests complimenting the service.
``The girls do a fantastic job - they bring games, tapes and play with the children,'' said Ellsworth. ``In all the responses we've gotten, there was never one complaint on any of her people. It really makes a difference.''
Beck does not have a college degree or any business experience, but she does have a natural knack for marketing her service. The hundreds of hours she has logged on the phone and in person has resulted in substantial discounts at places where her sitters take their charges.
A bright yellow brochure has a drawing of a momma peanut and two child peanuts, all with sticks for arms and legs. Beck patented the peanut figures and just had peanut costumes made. The costumed characters are an expansion of her service and will go to birthday parties with balloons, cakes, goodie bags and invitations.
``I'm going to unveil the peanuts the Fourth of July weekend,'' said Beck. ``I've spent a lot of money on advertising, but I think it will pay off eventually.''
Creation of a coloring book is Beck's biggest cost, which she pitched to Oceanfront restaurants, hotels and entertainment spots. The business would be sketched on a page for children to color. Beck sold pages for $500 each and has ordered 100,000 copies of the coloring book, which is scheduled for delivery the first week of July. The copyrighted book will be given to clients when the sitter visits and will be available in hotel lobbies and other businesses.
Beck also ordered children's T-shirts, which will sell for $10. Two dollars from every sale will go to the Virginia Beach Little League, where her 8-year-old granddaughter Ashleigh plays. But that's not enough for Beck. Next year she hopes to produce a peanut stuffed animal and party games involving peanuts (like ``Pin the Tail on the Peanut''). And an expansion of her baby-sitting service to Williamsburg is on the back burner.
Still, she hasn't made any money on the service yet but hopes to break even by the end of this year.
``I'm not doing this to be rich - I want to do something no one has done before,'' Beck said. ``And I just want to show that someone doing day care is a worthwhile person. Day care can be a lucrative business and a rewarding one.''
{KEYWORDS} BABY SITTING SERVICE BABY SITTERS
by CNB