How two companies care for the area’s most precious populations

Every time a child comes to Kids Cabana Learning Center, it’s as if a new family member has joined.

“We are family,” says Michelle Bondi, founder of Kids Cabana Learning Center in the Daytona area. She counts herself lucky in an economy rife with employee turnover; many of her employees have been with her for 10 years or more.

With its four locations — and a fifth one in the works — it’s fair to say Bondi has a huge family. That family includes 32 employees and 380 kids, from six weeks to five years old.

With faith as her guide, Bondi hopes her staff are a light in the children’s lives. One of the biggest challenges for childcare providers is the neglect cases they hear about. Because of the nature of the field, Bondi believes childcare professionals require a certain personality and training. It’s also why she tells her staff, “hire slow and fire quick,” to maintain high-quality relationships in the delicate family-style setting.

“You have to have a love and calling for children to do this job. I don’t even want to say a job. It’s more of a calling,” she says. “We are a Christian-run facility, and the kids are learning every day. They’re getting education, but they’re getting fed on a spiritual level as well. They can quote scripture to you. It just makes me know I’m fulfilling my purpose in life and also fulfilling the destiny of these kids.”

As for growing, their family will continue to expand as another facility should open in 2024, she says.

“We’re excited to grow,” she says. “We are excited to love on the teachers, love on the parents, and love on the children; I pray that everybody that walks in our doors will leave better than they came.”

On another front, a unique population also in need of care is the elderly. The Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies reported that in the next decade, the fastest growth in the U.S. population will be those 80 and older— meaning there’s an increased need for accessible housing and adaptable services at home.

That’s where companies like Daytona-based Home Instead can help. The business, owned by Shiv Puri, offers tailor-made in-house senior care. 

“Usually, it’s the son or daughter concerned about their aging parent who is looking for services,” says Puri. “Especially after the holidays when families get together, that’s when they realize mom or dad would benefit from homecare. The most common services requested are personal care (bathing, grooming, toileting), meal preparation, Hospice care, dementia care, light housekeeping, errands and transitional care.”

Puri’s own experience with homecare came after facing how to care for his mother-in-law, who had stage four cancer. His experience of finding a professional health team for her made all the difference during a tragic time for his family. As a result, he brings passion and compassion to the elderly healthcare industry.

“We’re deeply rooted in the community here, having helped thousands of families in providing care for their loved one at home,” he says of his team of 200-plus caregivers and administrative team of 12 employees. “That’s why we’re called Home Instead. Care at home instead of at a nursing home. Care at home instead of at an assisted living facility. Care at home — where your loved one is the most comfortable and familiar.”