For more than 20 years, Living Water Child Care has been offering daycare and childcare services to families in the Tug Valley area. For Jackie Keatley Branch, the director of Living Water, it is a wonderful way to get to know and care for kids in the area. Jackie opened Living Water as a ministry of her church in August 1999.
Not Just Babysitting
As director, Jackie does all of the administrative tasks pertaining to a licensed childcare center in the state. Living Water has four age-designated rooms, for infants aged 6 weeks to a year, infants between 1 and 2 years old, preschool age children, and a learning center for kids 5-12 years old. “It is important to note that daycare is not ‘babysitting’,” She says. “We provide an early learning environment for children. We spend many hours planning and implementing rich, hands-on learning experiences.”
For Jackie, their success comes thanks to the help of her staff at Living Water. “I am extremely proud of my staff which are responsible for making our program so successful.” She says. “They are highly trained, innovative, hardworking, and truly love our kids. I couldn’t (nor would I want to) make it a day without them.”
Helping Kids Grow Up
The best part of working at Living Water is helping the kids, says Jackie. “My favorite part of working at Living Water is getting to know and caring for our kids,” She says. She has always enjoyed working with children, and she loves seeing them learn, explore, and develop their personalities. “Although some days I leave completely exhausted, I look forward to the next day’s adventures.”
Volunteering and helping the community is important to Jackie, and for her, Living Water is a part of that. “No matter the way one may find to get involved, it is essential to the health and growth of our community,” She says. Jackie also serves through her church, and as a member of the Kiwanis Club, among other things.
Two decades of hard work have certainly paid off for Jackie. “We have actually been in business for so long that we are caring for a second generation!” They have even hired employees who were once enrolled at Living Water. Kids who attended years ago often stop by the daycare center as adults to tell the staff how many memories they have of daycare. “That’s when you know you have made a difference in the life of someone else,” Jackie says.
Living Water Child Care is located on 2nd Avenue, Williamson, WV. For more information, you can find them on Facebook or call 304-235-0701.
