Story Photos
 Photo by Greg Ebersole Lil' Red Barn Academy owner Brett Earnest, second from left in back, and the director Sherri Hutton, back left, hope their classroom-style child-care service grows in their new West Longview location. |
Talking Business: A child-care facility to call his own
Monday, June 25, 2007 6:56 AM PDT
By Evan Caldwell, columnist
Printable version
E-mail this articleAfter Brett Earnest's daughter, Hallie, was born in 2003, he couldn't find a child-care or day care he liked. So he built his own.
"I just couldn't find anything that fit my needs," he said. Earnest opened Lil' Red Barn Academy on 5622 Mount Solo Road in West Longview on April 30 for children ages 1 to 8.
"I started the rezoning process in January 2005 and broke ground in March 2006," said Earnest, who now works as a real estate agent at Windermere after working at the Wauna mill in Oregon for 11 years. "I was able to build my vision --- a place with safety in mind and a place where the kids can learn."
Lil' Red Barn Academy has five Early Child Education-certified employees and two other staff members that run the structured, classroom-style child-care service.
Children learn language, art, math and social skills, but still get time to run around outside and have fun, he said.
"Day cares all over are becoming more of a learning center," Lil' Red Barn director Sherri Hutton said. "We treat this as a stepping stone for kids going into elementary school."
The academy can have up to 34 children. It currently has 18. "We also have room to grow," Earnest said.
Lil Red Barn is open from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. For more information, call 414-3299.
New bingo hall coming soon
Longview resident Betty Hiatt is in the process of starting 3 Rivers Bingo at 1030 15th Ave. --- inside a portion of the building Northern Lights Bingo used to rent and where Longview Goodwill is moving into.
"I hope to be open by the end of July or early August," Hiatt said.
The nonprofit bingo hall will benefit the local Big Brothers, Big Sisters program. "I think the bingo hall can do good there," she added.
SBA offers loans to veterans
The Small Business Administration has started offering a new loan program to military community members, including veterans, active-duty service members in the Transition Assistance Program, reservists and National Guard members, current spouses of military personnel and the widowed spouse of a service member or veteran who died during service or of a service-connected disability.
The new Patriot Express Pilot Loan is a loan based on SBA's Express Program but with enhanced guarantees and better interest rates, such as 2.25 percent to 4.75 percent.
Loans are available up to $500,000. The Patriot Express Loan can be used for most business purposes, including start-up, expansion, equipment purchases, working capital, inventory or business-occupied real estate purchases.
For more information, visit www.sba.gov/patriotexpress/.
If you know about a business opening, closing or going through major changes, contact reporter Evan Caldwell . He can be reached at evan.caldwell@tdn.com. or Talking Business, The Daily News, P.O. Box 189, Longview, WA 98632
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