The Community Child Care Center of Portsmouth provides child care, early education and before- and after-school programs. When Christine Hegarty’s husband passed away, the center provided support to her and her children, Erin and Quinn.
CHRSTINE: What had really appealed to both my husband and myself was the care the kids got and the feeling that was provided by the staff. And what happened was going to community child care, that really was their neighborhood. My kids loved it. They never wanted to leave.
My husband was diagnosed with leukemia. I did let the child care center know and the teachers know. My husband got very sick. It was actually New Years Eve. I remember I had to drop the kids off at the child care center and Jamie, who was the lead teacher for the kids in elementary school, was there and watched the kids for me. We were trying to keep everything as normal as possible. And actually three weeks after that my husband was in the hospital and then passed away and the community child care center along with the elementary school were just wonderful. They really supported us and held us.
And Jamie really watched my son. My husband was my son’s best friend and not to discount what my daughter might have been going through, she was six she was a lot younger, Quinn was nine and it was a devastating blow to him. So Jamie, not only for that fourth grade year but right through sixth grade, always had an eye out for Quinn. And I never had to ask for anything because both the teachers and the administration of community child care were right there. All of them. Both during and after my husband’s death and that was huge to me. The care that was shown was very thoughtful, very quiet, very in the background but I knew it was there.
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