Cool with the kids

from Community Resource Guide 2023

Tales of a bell ringer

Rachel Daby provides children safe outlet for energy

By PARKER O’BRIEN Sports Editor

Rachel Daby, a Vermontville native, comes from a family that loves to volunteer

Her grandmother used to own the St Paul’s food pantry in Vermontville before she passed away. Her aunt now owns the food pantry So it’s no shock that she loves to make a difference in this world, too Daby, who now resides in Essex Junction, Vermont as she attends Saint Michael’s College, has been working at a Days Inn for some time now She originally started working part-time before eventually taking on a full-time role at the hotel But over the summer, Daby started to see an influx of children running around the hotel The children weren’t staying as typical guests they were staying as part of a group of families being housed at the hotel through Vermont’s transitional housing program

Days Inn has a contract with the state of Vermont to shelter people without homes to eventually get them into stable housing The program works through Vermont’s Emergency Housing and Transitional Housing program

“A lot of the kids were out of school and stuff like that and they were just running around and up and down the halls,” Daby said “They were just trying to have fun, but it’s a hotel and it’s not in a supercute, friendly area, so there aren’t that many chances for them to get their energy out ”

Daby said it was hard on the staff to continue to do their jobs with children running around because they were still taking in regular guests at the same time She added that it wasn’t super business-friendly.

“It sounds terrible to say,” Daby said, “but it wasn’t great to have kids running around the halls and sometimes they would accidentally trip guests and stuff like that They just needed a safe place for everybody to get their energy out.”

After talking with the hotel’s manager, she decided to reach out to a program at Saint Michael’s called Mobilization of Volunteer Efforts (MOVE). The program helps fill some of the community’s unserved needs by creating volunteer groups

“Saint Mike’s has a really big volunteer campus and it’s actually a huge mission of the Edmund teachings, who founded the campus,” Daby said. “So, I just knew of the volunteer efforts of Saint Mike’s ”

Since September, MOVE has come to the hotel once a week to play supervised games and activities with the children Daby said the children absolutely love the program.

“During the week, they’ll be like, ‘Oh it’s happening this week right?’ and they’ll tell me about every-

(Provided photo) thing that has gone on some of the weeks,” Daby said “I have gone with them and they just have a great time.”

She said that some of the children have even made friends with the other children at the hotel

“So when they are hanging out outside of the room or outside of the program,” she said “Instead of being groups of siblings, they are all friends with each other which is so awesome to see.”

When the program first started, Daby said she was heavily involved

“I would go over with them and stuff that way they would have somebody that they are comfortable with and that they knew,” Daby said. “After a while, the volunteers really had it in hand and I wasn’t needed as much So now I just kind of make sure of everything that goes in the school day and keep the volunteer groups updated with numbers and things ”

Daby said its been absolutely rewarding to know that the children have a safe place to get their energy out

“It genuinely makes me feel good to see those kids have a good time,” she said “The hotel is not always a happy place as much as I’d like to say that it is Things get pretty serious or pretty scary sometimes. So it’s really good to just see the kids relax and have fun in a safe environment ”

While Daby, who graduated from Saranac Lake High School in 2020, said she isn’t quite sure what the Saranac Lake community would need in terms of a program like this, but she added that it would be helpful for other areas to have something similar.

“It’s only had positive effects and there hasn’t been a single negative effect since the program,” Daby said