She Gave Birth to Child Care Center

Two hundred and sixty thousand dollars. Peanuts compared with the cost of a Stealth bomber. A fortune to those of us hard-put to sell $20 worth of Girl Scout Cookies. A formidable challenge to Carol Mishell, who raised the sum, virtually single-handedly, in 12 sometimes exasperating months.

For Mishell, reigning County Volunteer of the Year, her assignment, if she chose to accept it, was to corral $250,000 for construction (and a year’s operation) of a child-care center for the Women’s Hospital of the County-USC Medical Center.

One of every 170 babies in America is delivered at the hospital, more than in any other U.S. facility. The number would--will--be higher when the center is open for those by women who simply do not know what to do with their children when they visit the doctor, women intimidated by huge hospitals. The new facility, opening next month, will give their kids--and those of visitors--an alternative to what must seem endless waiting in crowded clinic areas.

In the bilingual center will be supervised games, crafts, interaction, even nutritious meals (“It sounds kind of silly,” says Mishell, “but a lot of these children don’t eat properly at home.”) There’s also a resource and referral area for parents “that addresses all sorts of needs.”

Mishell accepted her mandate, “though I had no idea what I was getting into, of the magnitude of the project. I was a housewife!” She easily confesses to “flopping a few times. Then I got busy and did some research on how to write a proposal, how to approach a foundation, to convince people that this was a valid, worthwhile project. There’s an art to it.” She did just fine.

“The Mead-Johnson firm got the ball rolling,” she says. “Others signed on. We formed a small support group; we had bagel sales, days at the races, a fandango at Lawry’s. . . . “

And now it’s done, and it’s important--”important,” Mishell says, “for those with few resources to know that there’s help, that in spite of the bureaucracy, the system really cares.”