Lesia Daniel-Hollingshead and William Daniel

00:00 My name is Lisa daniel-hollingshead on 52 years old today December 9th, 2020. I'm in Clinton Mississippi with my movie partner Walter Daniel, who is my brother?

00:19 My name is Walter. I am 48 years old today is December is well under is Lisa daniel-hollingshead. He was my sister and also my business partner.

00:39 So Walter over the weekend and I was on Facebook and I got a message from a girl. I went to high school with Wendy Blackwell and she wanted to know if we could have a fun time reunions and have fun that all famous Fun Time Pizza. So I messaged her back and told her that we had actually been talkin about that the other day because our 50 year anniversary is coming up 11 months and 2 weeks. It's hard to believe that we've been at this our family has for 50 years.

01:21 Yes, I get people around Clinton who called and want to do class reunions and things all the time. So you have some type of is it a class reunions or she just wants to do just a Funtime reunions of everyone who used to spend CHS class pages or whatever said that everybody who skated over the years can come hang out, you know with their friends and eat pizza and for several people commented on the post and and we're saying are we all going to actually skate or you know course my friends are you know little bit older than your so we're not really talk about that though.

02:10 Yes.

02:13 We can we can we can definitely work at a reunions party.

02:23 You know, I remember, you know, I growing up when we were in the rank and you were DJ and and I was in the snack bar and selling tickets and you know, who would have ever thought that in the year 2020.

02:38 We would have the skating rink that we have now turned into you know, very

02:50 Busy Child Care Program, you know, I don't know that I ever saw us go in there from where we were pretending to be the Dukes of Hazzard on the four-wheeler at Mamaw's to turn in the skating rink into child care. How did we even

03:09 How do we how do we even come up with that? Because I don't think that it ever been done before it. Now, you know what we travel all over the state for various things like when Kyle was playing baseball and stuff. We would see other skating rinks that now have after-school programs that I've kind of copied our model. But like how do we get there?

03:37 Well, that's a good question growing up in the business. But our parents running it. That's just what we knew. That's what we did. We just grew up with.

03:48 Taking care of it in the business world. And so that's just what we learned and that's what we knew and I I mean honestly from the time I was in high school. I really never saw myself working a job always saw myself as working for ourselves and doing something at fun time.

04:08 I don't know after college and when I heard that Miss Katie's was closing, which is you know, obviously where we both used to work Child Care Center in Clinton.

04:19 I just got to thinking about the rain would be the perfect place for that school program. He called me and asked me about that said did you hear that Miss Katie's is closing. I don't know. I just I just happen to think about why don't we start an after-school program here at the rain because all day everyday and it could be used RAM and then still use it on the weekends or skating rink.

05:01 Gosh, you know when we were first going through the planning phases and getting the health department approvals and going through the city for the zoning and all those things. We were doing pre-opening you and I were both still working.

05:18 You know, I was still teaching and you were still at the AG's office, but that all dust when it was actually day one time to open and the thought of neither one of us are getting another paycheck unless this work.

05:47 God remember our first bus

05:51 Yes 26. It was a 20 something closer to 30 passenger. I think I remember I had a spray paint sprayer and I actually bought some pain and and then had some magnetic letters made from a sign guy in you and I got through the parking lot take up all the windows and actually spray paint the bus myself. That was my first Venture and body work. But but you know what we paid. That was a scam.

06:41 Yeah, they're definitely a step up water in a brand new bus says 7071 passenger so, you know.

06:59 Day one when I started and it was me and you and the kiddos and

07:05 We had him a couple of weeks before they actually went back to school. So we really started with summer camp the first couple of weeks and we were so glad you know, we had the morning time to get actual work done because you and I were with the kids 7 to 6 and then

07:31 And also doing all the vacuuming and cleaning and taking out garbage and we pretty much did everything ourselves less than just a couple two or three other people that we had the office.

07:44 And now we have but 60 or so won't payroll total for both locations. Now, we've got like 88 on payroll in the daycare.

07:59 Yeah, I remember I used to Friday's I would hand write payroll checks. Can you imagine doing that now?

08:10 That's crazy. Crazy crazy.

08:15 We went out remember. We took the kids. I think it was one of our first field trips. We went to that Hilltop painted Acres out in Brandon where they could go on that little trail ride.

08:28 It was good and they had that will canteen thing. We packed lunches and went in there and ate our lunch out there. It was it was it was kind of an all-day field trip event notebook with our roll on it so we can make sure we had everybody getting off the bus and everybody getting back on the bus when it was we were leaving how many we have 19 kids when we first opened.

08:56 We had close to 20. I don't remember the exact number, but I think it was 19 and two of them. Where are to Katie and Becca Sprite sheet like $35 a week or something like that. Wow. To Robin's kids and Jesse and I know right.

09:34 I just think everybody in Clinton New Funtime and trusted their kids being there because they were used to drop them off to skate. And so

09:47 Yeah, we had.

09:50 We had dr. Robbins kids. We had Jesse and then full circle with Jessie growing up and finishing school and coming back to work for us full-time and being a bus drop. Jesse was on that first field trip. We went on

10:11 God remember he was in 5th grade and when they started school and he had all that homework and I just thought I am never going to get homework done with this kid to let him do anything.

10:22 Right. Yeah, it didn't take us long though things way back then when we only had 20 kids and then basically just most for the most part just carried all those procedures and things we learned forward as we remember when we we would make one trip to the school's you would drive I would be on the bus and we would have made it through another teacher and stuff the bus in twisted your ankle in a pothole.

11:10 Red Robin office near out there and got me in that and then rolled me over to the sidewalk with all the car right there where I sat to wake you come get me and take me to the doctor, but I was back on the bus the next day. We remember that boot thing. I had to wear those crutches. Yeah. Yeah, I didn't jump off the bus in a hurry for a long time after that I was going but I got off and got that roll checked and we got back on the bus and took off to the next school and you know at some point that first year we had increased our enrollment enough that we weren't able to get all the kids on one bus. We were having to make like we were having to go kindergartners and first-graders go back and unload and then go get the

12:09 Upper Elementary kiddos

12:13 And

12:16 Yeah, that was.

12:18 Who I remember I was so nervous outside and got 5th grade Halloween one of us so 3 schools in quick trips.

12:43 How do we tell the kids what's happened and all who been in school all day while we've been watching the news all day and what was going on?

12:51 Crazy crazy memories

12:59 That was tough. Cuz we didn't know what families wanted us to tell the children what they would consider appropriate and we really didn't have time to process it to even think through what would be age appropriate for The Kindergartners to be told or the 5th graders to be taught. You know it just by the time we left on the bus that day at you know before 2, we've been watching the news but we didn't know what all has I mean the whole country was just basically scared yet their kids and get home in their house and like be there, you know.

13:59 Katrina yeah being without power for so long and for days and days and down because they didn't have power and and

14:14 And that was a crazy time to of course, nothing compares to what we're living through right now remembering Katrina. We open the preschool building cuz we still had electricity there because we were across the street from the nursing home. And so they were considered high priority to get the electricity back working. So we got the power back on at the preschool before we had it back down on, you know, it's a big fun time. And so

14:53 We had some people that had family here because they had had to like leave late had to evacuate and we opened up the preschool kind of like a shelter-in-place kind of thing a few days for some people to come and stay who were evacuating from the dino Costa New Orleans area and we thought then oh my gosh, this is so stressful.

15:24 Wright was a piece of cake compared to where we are today.

15:32 And not knowing from

15:35 You know one minute, you know, or are we going to survive?

15:42 You know, that's what I'm sorry.

15:51 Messages not knowing how we were going and we knew that we were going to do what we had to do to.

16:01 Make it successful. I mean there was no other option and then being successful car work ethic and growing up with Mom and Dad and side-by-side with him working and the commitment they had to rank with what drives you and I to be successful and depress on and to keep going and not give up and then the

16:27 And wait.

16:33 Do whatever you have to do to take care of the customers because you know when it happens we're going to be doing everything we can to make sure their kids are taken care of.

16:49 But many of our parents work in the medical field and essential workers, they have to get up and go to work because other people depend on them.

16:58 But you know, we had almost 400 children enrolled in March before the pendant yet. And then it was like almost overnight we had you know 40.

17:17 And so the financial aspect of it, but then just also trying to figure out the health aspect and and what procedures we have in place. And is that keeping the children safe? And is that keeping the staff safe and

17:36 Guidelines changing day-to-day and week-to-week and

17:41 It's just it's it's very becoming of you know, we used to could spend our day focusing on.

17:55 What we wanted to do with our children and four children and with our staff and growing them professionally and

18:06 Developing their skills and and it feels like you know the past six months. We've just been in survival mode.

18:17 We went from being blind from being there a primary focus of doing everything we could to be the best and you know to be the leader in our industry and

18:30 I'll be the one that others look. We went from that to just being right trying to stay alive trying to trying to figure out how we're going to pay the bills with 40 kids and we have two huge buildings and

18:43 + 40

18:57 Well being so scared of the virus and everything you see on the news about it and you're in those scared to go to work because you don't know if you're going to get it and who might have it. You don't even know how is transmitted you're washing your hat, you're wearing the skin off your hands from washing your hands so much and

19:19 And I just the fear of just leaving your house and having to go to work every day and be around other people that you don't know who might have and then develop all the procedure and I would locking down the building not even letting parents thought in a million years that we would open a daycare center and not even let the kids parents inside it. I mean that's you know, just before Frito because that would have just been liking something you would have never thought that whatever, you know disallowing family beside our Center. What were we hiding, you know, and now

20:01 We're all the six memes says the model of this is what fun time. Is it going to keep children and families day, so

20:13 Luckily, we have the you know, we have 20 years experience then and we have a very good dedicated staff and we were able to do things that a lot of smaller centers weren't able to do and what not closed down. Just getting couldn't weather the storm they see

20:35 Of course if it hadn't been for

20:38 Taking care of getting all the PPP money into the government loans and assistance and and everything that we could get our every penny we can get our hands on some other sources than customers than there was a great.

21:00 Right amount of time that transpired that you know, I thought this PPP money is going to carry us to December, but after December like we're

21:15 Wait where we can't stay open?

21:19 Yeah, thank God. We you know, we've gotten that other Grant from the governor's office and

21:28 Which we got in the preschool back up to capacity. I mean, you know, it's hard to think about will our after-school program ever be able to be what it was before Corona with so many people working from home.

21:53 Where to change it change the whole world and then is changed the way everybody's done and like you said people are working more from home now and

22:03 So I think it'll it'll build back up.

22:07 After school kids in a panther can more easily find someone let them goes on the ride the bus home and stay with a neighbor or something for just a couple hours after school or whatever. So in general parents don't need after school care quite as much and as much as I depend on preschool care for their dinner for the babies and toddlers and you know, it depends so much on the economy to economy keeps doing good as this pandemic dies down and everybody's back at work then.

22:44 Independence almost there now. We're back up to about a hundred and twenty after schoolers and we had about a hundred and sixty-four.

22:53 I think just wait we had we had about 10 or 12.

23:05 That will be able to get there and get the after-school numbers back up to where they were and then you know, hopefully be able to resume you no more operation of the skating rink to generate that in because we've relied on that income.

23:24 You Know cover part of the expenses in the overhead, you know of that facility

23:34 Ended the daycare down 100% cover that in a 13000 square foot facility.

23:44 It's hard, but they pay for two big big nice locations. Like we have without the skating rink in come this is just operate in paper paper. What we have. We were talking about this the other day, you know, if for the skating rink business to generate income, we got to have a building full of people. We can't open the building up and have 20 people come skate and make anything, you know.

24:22 Low, it's not it's not worth open up for just half capacity. So

24:28 All of these until people until all the restrictions are lifted and people feel safe getting back out and getting back out of large crowds. Then the skating rink is just not going to make any money and I just don't know how much longer this going to be. I don't know if this if the vaccine is going to do it hopefully within the next few months now that they're giving the vaccine out too much people who feel like they need to get back anyway, and everyone will start to feel comfortable getting back out in the crowd and I'm living normal life again. Hopefully we can build it back up from there.

25:10 I hope so. I hope so.

25:21 But right now all we can do is just

25:24 Some people birthday private birthday parties and things here in the air try to make the best of what we can and try to keep at least a few people on staff. So when we can open the right back up, we got some people there too dark to help work, right?

25:43 You remember when Mom and Dad were still running the rain? This was me before we started, you know, the Child Care Program, but we would daddy would be in the car. We opened at 2. He would be in the car at 1:15 waiting on us. Come on. We got to go. We live two miles from The Ring.

26:05 Get down there and get everything opened up and ready and then on Sundays when we would close.

26:16 You know a lot of times we would go to what was that potato place. We used to go get those baked potatoes that we thought was just and then

26:29 The ice cream place over there on 55

26:35 Winston with all that

26:44 That's pretty much all we doing is hardly ever even is home.

26:48 LL World War I and what are normally is last night? We met we ordered out and had some food delivered here since we can't leave and go get anything and it was so nice to actually eat some real food rather than just making cheese quesadilla.

27:13 Are you at home? Are you able to taste it or taste and still?

27:22 Am I still can you taste your food or have you lost that? It's real weird because it's a daily thing like sometimes like I'll get up in the morning and I can taste and smell pretty well and then sometimes and then later on in the evening like like me like we have a candle sitting on a bar and I get up every morning smell it take my smeller. One of my thinking of that can go on trying to smell it and sometimes I can't hardly at all maybe like 10% and then other times.

28:00 But it is still crazy and then you still do you got it cuz you just got all these weird things going on. You know what just being fatigued and running just a little fever and whatever but it's just all these different symptoms that occur in different time. So it's just it's just weird. But I mean, I'm glad I don't have bad system and I can say something now, but I still can't smell I had to go back to the kitchen this morning when I came in Regina call me back there because the gas and got pushed off on the stove and oven and she couldn't get the pilot light lit.

28:48 Is that grease trap? That's out the back door that was not to get that guy to come clean. But anyway, I still miss her too. And I can't smell anything and she was like you can't smell that it's all over the building and I was like since I had the corona smell nothing which is kind of good cuz you know, sometimes I'm kind of sensitive to smells nausea.

29:20 I remember I remember when we were down at the condo few weeks ago and we all went out to eat somewhere. We're sitting outside eating them. We all smell something. We would like to know. What is that smell that we went to the beach house restaurant.

29:40 That was a lot of fun. If you could think back to a lesson that you learned from us working with Mom and Dad what I just can't think of daddy saying every time that we would go out to eat like thinking about going to spuds or what was that other place that you can take us and they games that you could play.

30:10 I can't think of that right now. But anyway daddy would say if y'all don't sit down and be quiet. I'm not ever taking you out anywhere and then of course the next week we went again.

30:31 What is the main thing that we learn from them was?

30:40 Just about doing things right treating people right always being fair and and and keeping family-friendly environment and

30:53 I think that's the main thing because you know, sometimes things present themselves where it looks like you can make a quick Buck but our save a quick Buck or whatever but it's just not the right thing to do. So you just always kept it in a look at your long-term and your reputation and that's the most important thing in a business going long-term is always always doing the right thing and not just trying to save a dollar here in or making quick dollar. They're doing something that's that's not right. It's all of these texts are your customers and protect your reputation and do what's right and then a long-term everything else Works itself out.

31:40 I just feel like growing up working alongside them. And I mean even when granddaddy was still in Clinton and still run in the rain initially.

31:51 You know, I know you don't remember that cuz that's just but you never even just as a small child being down there on Saturday morning for Tiny Tots with granddaddy up there, you know, DJ and with old vinyl records and you know.

32:12 Making everybody happy putting on the show and make them come back and have some more, you know.

32:22 Well, I don't remember granddaddy DJ anybody remember when?

32:28 Daddy was DJ

32:32 And then when I started

32:36 Well leaving before high school really probably when I was about 14 15 years old.

32:42 And how I how I loved it and it was more cassette and then things moved to go to CDs and then whatever so the technology and Equipment just progressed, you know through the years and we tried to keep up with the whatever is the latest you were staying just leaving. I mean, that's just what I lived for everybody else in high school was at the football games on Friday night, but I was at work with the kids are good to buy.

33:33 Do people still tell me that you know that some of the best memories of their life as I can remember this being at the Rankin and be with her friends on Friday night and skating and and starting on Friday night skating in the parade and accept this year has been in the parade every year this year which were just getting because I was on quarantine.

34:18 Yep, and then the parade ended up having to be.

34:24 I didn't answer I did it virtually said there were no people they're just they just had to stream it, you know, which is crazy to think about a parade on a livestream and you know the world worrying right now and everybody's just adapting and having to adjust and

34:48 Figuring out how to make

34:51 Bring that seems like something you didn't even have to think about you would have never dreamed of it. Like you couldn't even make that stuff up in the Twilight parade at the preschool to come see their teachers. And that was like what we have like 40 kids enrolled and our teachers were missing their kids and everybody was just at home and they all made signs and they made t-shirt the teachers made those vinyl t-shirts and

35:35 God we were on the news with that. That was fun Thinking About You Remember When?

35:46 We had the cookie bird costume. That was our kind of mascot and Jason Jones that wore baton skated in the correct.

35:57 Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

36:00 So what was your favorite part of those?

36:05 Old traditional at kids skating in the parade parade days.

36:13 Will

36:17 You know, it's been several years since we've had kids actually skate in the parade and having some of our daycare kids are mostly after school kids just marching in the parade in the bus following them singing Christmas.

36:39 But yeah, I remember the good old days of skating down Clinton Boulevard and all the kids on skates and start going down that hill and I'm not able to walk backwards and we're all having to you know, I can't stop going down the Hills.

36:55 And it was turning on my legs be sore for the next week. It was so nice after we had the big bust because then we could transport everybody from the parade back to the Rain used to be down there in that parking lot and wait for the parents to come pick him up. I just love being at the real pain that day after the parade. It was such like that was one of my favorite days ever.

37:29 It was it was a lot of Christmas spirit that day. I mean that's just the day that Christmas kicked off and all the kids were so excited after being in the parade and then come down and skate in there and put on the new Wheels like you said.

37:52 Is a big day for skate fails Christmas music.

38:02 All right. Yeah.

38:06 Oh good memories good memories.

38:10 Yep.

38:12 Centers 2 minutes left

38:21 What I remember and come back to fun time at 4 that afternoon session. We opened back up to the public like from 2 to 4 is when she would have her birthday party from time to time on Facebook about I sure wish I was having a skating party this year and you know

38:52 And everybody with every kid in Clinton kind of grew up and Funtime and that's through some of their best memories.

39:09 Right

39:12 I can't. Okay. What does it mean to have such an impact?

39:21 You know it it feels

39:24 Heavy, sometimes the responsibility that we carry the weight that we carry in and what we do for children and families in Clinton. And even though the way that looks has changed over the 50 years and it's evolves and it's grown and it's things have been tweaked and changed but we've always been here to serve our community and that's what we're still doing today.

39:56 And it's just it's a heavy weight to carry sometimes but honestly, I wouldn't want to be doing anything else. I feel like if we can make a difference in the lives of children and changed the trajectory of their life then.

40:16 We will have the fields of purpose here, you know.

40:22 Yeah, I can't imagine doing anything else. Either may not like you said you you talk for a while and I work for the Attorney General, but I really can't imagine like I said, I never really saw myself working for someone else or not for an extended. Of time. Anyway, I always

40:41 I was just felt like me and you had the background and experience having grown up in a business and you with a teaching degree and they with a business degree. I just felt like this is just would like it even if we were risking everything when we started it. Like I never really second thought I never second-guess, but I just felt like it was the right thing to do. I guess what was supposed to happen?

41:04 Which is kind of a like me because I'm usually real skeptical about doing anything, you know, especially something that big in that risk being that life-changing we ended up, you know, typing on after we building that playground and then

41:23 Never thought about that, and now to think about how are we going to repay it?

41:42 But we just kept the faith and said if we build it they will calling them they did come we've always found a way to get every bill paid everybody at than we ever do the money to you. We've always gotten a page or our utility or anything other than what the SBA for gave us those they gave us those extensions and back.

42:19 Like you said you and I don't get paid but everybody else does.

42:26 Yeah.

42:30 I think

42:35 It's a wrap up in this interview is coming to an end, but it's just been a good morning after.

42:46 You know the news that I heard last night about Jeff, it's been a good conversation for us to be able to focus on the good things that

42:59 The heart of our lives and been able to share with others in and hopefully bring some good.

43:07 You know to Clinton and into the children and their families and all the all the things.

43:18 In the the things that we've been through and we've always overcome them and carried on so I guess we're going to do the same this time. That's right.

43:31 Got to Keep On Keepin On

43:35 Let the good times roll.