Color Me Happy Daycare is a childcare and pre-kindergarten educational provider in Batesville, Mississippi. Established in 1990, the center is owned and operated by Donna Traywick, a native of Batesville, Panola County, Miss. The childcare facility is licensed for 61 children ages 2 to 12 years of age, and provides childcare services but also piano, guitar, and ballet lessons and other extracurricular activities.

Color Me Happy Daycare is community-minded and the children who attend participate in many charity events and activities, such as Cancer Society Relay for Life, Holiday House at Chamber of Commerce, Love Lights, Food Pantry, and Coats for Kids. Quitman Tri County Federal Credit Union (QTCFCU) is happy to have been able to assist Donna Traywick, and other business leaders like her, in making a difference in children’s lives as well as in the community in which we live.

In 2002, Traywick needed an additional building constructed next to the existing one for the after school services and extracurricular activities her daycare provided. She received financial assistance from the Quitman County Development Organization’s Micro Loan Program to pay for the new building for her expanding business. But soon after that, with the downturn in the economy, many parents were being laid off. Attendance at her daycare dropped as unemployed parents took up caring for their children themselves. She began having problems making payments on the loans she had, making payroll, and keeping up with federal regulatory guidelines. That is when Quitman Tri County Federal Credit Union stepped up to help keep her business afloat. Many parents still depended on Traywick because they knew she ran a quality daycare with a very competent staff.

With so many families having both parents working, daycare is the primary option for the working class families in our community. Color Me Happy Daycare provides a vital service and Quitman Tri County Federal Credit Union didn’t want it to end, as the need would again increase when the economy improved. Traywick first contacted the local office in Sardis, Panola County, Miss., which is part of QTCFCU’s field of membership. Barron Webb, the branch manager, worked with her to figure out what she would need and walked her through the process of obtaining an additional loan to consolidate some existing debt. Today, the daycare is doing well, attendance is back up, and Traywick is optimistic about her business’s future.

The Quitman Tri County Federal Credit Union was founded in August 1981 to meet the need for access to credit of low-income residents in Quitman County (located in the Mississippi Delta), who were historically denied adequate financing from local banks and who relied on finance companies that charged high interest rates. Quitman Tri County Federal Credit Union’s quest to serve the underserved is ongoing. By branching out to the other counties such as Panola, Tallahatchie, and Coahoma, QTCFCU now helps more families and businesses in this economically underdeveloped area. The credit union offers saving accounts, personal and automobile loans, credit cards, ATM cards, money orders, and various other financial services. Color Me Happy is just one of QTCFCU’s success stories.  —N. Shoemaker