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Dayâ€"care centre provides safety net for corporate citizens in need of a babysitter t‘s 8 a.m. Monday when Iyou get the dreaded phone call. Your babysitter has called in sick and you‘re supposed to be at work in an hour. Everybody hates to get the news, but a new Waterâ€" loo dayâ€"care centre is makâ€" ing it easier for people who need the emergency backup on days when their sitters may be unreliable. However, this miracle worker isn‘t open for all moms and dads who are needing to find a place to ship their son or daughter off to before work. The service is exclusively offered to employees of corâ€" porate companies who have already signed on to particiâ€" pate in the program. Victoria Sopik, the presiâ€" dent and CEO of the corpoâ€" rateâ€"sponsored childcare company, Kids and Compaâ€" ny, started her chain of dayâ€" care facilities in Toronto in 2002, as a way to solve the Home By Ryan Conneu For The Chronicle problems she saw working parents going through on an ongoing basis. "Companies very much want to attract and retain employees; they know if the parents aren‘t happy with the childcare they may curâ€" rently have, the parents may not continue working," Sopik explained, who saw a great demand in Waterloo for a service like this. And she could relate to the problem all too well. Sopik is a mother of eight children, ranging from ages nine to 20. "So if they have someâ€" thing to help them out, then (the companies}) are more than happy to sign up for It," Currently, the facility which is located on 597 King St. N. in the former home of Roxanne‘s nightâ€" club, has close to 40 compaâ€" nies in Waterloo signed up for the backâ€"up dayâ€"care services, ranging from law firms, financial services, insurance companies, and corporate companies who were interested in adding 1421 King St N., ST. JACOBS (519) 664â€"3301 AiLSI k t BUSINESS ORL CX !K Monâ€"Thur. 86 Fri. 8â€"9 Sat. 8â€"5; Sun 12â€"5 child care to their employee benefits packages. Some local businesses include PriceWaterhouseCâ€" oopers in Kitchener, Manâ€" ulife and Sun Life insurance companies, KPMG and BDO Dunwoody financial serâ€" vices. The dayâ€"care services work nationwide as well, so even though you may work out of a Toronto CIBC Bank, for example, you‘re still able to use Waterloo‘s facilities as well. While their backup babyâ€" sitting services are very popular, their facility also offers fullâ€"time day care for parents who may need it. ".. employees can actually log in during the day to our web site." Their Waterloo centre ~Victoria Sopik Kids and Company has 100 spots allotted for 3 children ranging from 2 infants to 13â€"yearâ€"olds. _2 About 70 per cent of the children who are signed up for day care are taken care of full time or part time, savâ€" ing some extra spots for emergency backup care when needed. Sopik said her company is also able to offer someâ€" thing _ few _ dayâ€"care services these days can guarantee. "We offer fullâ€"time childâ€" care and can guarantee a spot as long as you give six months notice beforehand," she said, which is someâ€" thing most day cares can‘t always promise. This option is ideal espeâ€" cially for expecting mothers who plan to go right back to work after their child is bormn. And even though the 9,000 squareâ€"foot facility . which opened on Sept. 30, is built in the former home of an exotic strip club, Sopik said their dayâ€"care centres Continued on page 21