DUBLIN — From the time she was a child, Bladenboro resident Anita Hall dreamed of someday working in a business she enjoyed and could call her own.

Now, as a result of a training program she entered at Bladen Community College more than 11 years ago, she has fulfilled her dream.

A Bladen County native, Hall attended Southeastern Community College after graduating from Bladenboro High School in 1975. After one year she married, dropped out of college, and began raising a family. In order to help support the family, she soon went to work in the textile industry, where she would work in several different plants over the next 20 years.

In 1998 she was laid off from her job due to downsizing at the company.

Throughout the years she was working in the textile industry, she continued to dream of someday owning her own business. By then her children were grown and she had an opportunity to go back to school with assistance from the Trade Readjustment Allowances (TRA) implemented following the ratification of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

She jumped at the chance and enrolled in the Early Childhood program at BCC.

“I had always enjoyed working with children and thought I could possibly achieve my goals in the childcare business,” she said. “The Early Childhood program at BCC was the best. I really enjoyed the program, the instructors, and the atmosphere at the college.”

During her training, she worked in the co-op program at Teddy and Friends in Dublin, and later, as an employee at Childcare Network in Elizabethtown.

She graduated with honors in 2000, but achieving her dream at first proved illusive.

“Not long after graduating, I found a location for a new daycare business and began working to get it ready for a center,” she said, candidly. “But it didn’t work out because the people that owned the building changed their mind about allowing us to put a day care center in it.”

She then went to work at Bo’s food store in Bladenboro as a bookkeeper, an experience she says proved to be invaluable when she

finally was able to open her own business.

“It gave me an opportunity to learn many things about business practices that I have since found very useful,” she explained.

In 2004, a daycare center across the street from the store closed and she decided to see if the building was available. After talking to the owner, she found it was for rent and decided to open a new day care business at the location.

“It wasn’t easy,” Hall explained. “I continued to work at Bo’s and hired first my niece, and then later, my daughter-in-law to operate it. I felt I could not afford to leave my job at Bo’s because I needed the income to pay them.

“The first month I only had one child and the next month I only had three. I knew if we didn’t do better than that, I’d soon be out of

business,” she said. “I talked it over with my husband and he told me that if I were to get involved directly the business, the children

would come because of the number of people I knew in and around the community.

“I was skeptical and very apprehensive about quitting my job, but finally decided to do it with my husband’s encouragement. The

business began to grow almost immediately. Soon I was operating at capacity and needed space to grow. About that time the landlord raised the rent, and in 2006 my husband and I decided to build a new facility near our home on Butler Mill Road.”

In January 2007 they began construction of a new building to house the facility and completed it in time to open on Memorial Day weekend. The sparkling clean and fully equipped new center is designed to accommodate up to 64 children and since she operates it in two shifts, it can serve up to 128 children.

She says the whole experience has made her appreciate more than ever the training she received at BCC and the job experiences that have helped her along the way.

“It was really scary, trying to do something without a lot of funding, but my past experience working at (daycare) centers and at Bo’s gave me confidence that I could do it,” she explained. “But the greatest confidence builder was my love for children and the confidence parents have had in me and my ability to provide a good environment for their children.

“Another thing that has inspired me has been working all these years with my daughter, who has Down’s syndrome. I believe my work with her over the years has enabled her to function at a much higher level than most children who have Down’s,” she added.

Hall’s business, Little Hands Daycare Center, is located at 1695 Butler Mill Road near Bladenboro.