A haven for 'backstretch babies'

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As Department of Social Services funds have diminished in recent years, though, the nonprofit Belmont Childcare Association, Anna House’s fundraising arm, has had to work ever harder to make up the difference in order to maintain the preschool’s full array of services, said Joanne Adams, the association’s executive director.

A lifeline for parents

Cassandra Zavala, 27, of Elmont, is a horse walker at Belmont who grew up in Michigan and once dreamed of becoming a veterinarian. Her husband, Usbaldo, who emigrated from Mexico, is an exercise rider. They have a son, Brandon, 3, who has attended Anna House since he turned a year old.

The Zavalas leave the house at 4:30 a.m. daily. “I just get myself ready, get [Brandon] ready, and we’re out the door,” Cassandra said. “He’s half-awake.”

She said she doesn’t know what she would do without Anna House. “Babysitters are very expensive, and they don’t teach the kids anything,” she said. “All of the classrooms [here] are very well put together. The staff is unbelievable.”

By 5:30 a.m., Cassandra and Usbaldo are on the track with the horses, no matter the weather –– in downpours or blizzards. The horses, which can be temperamental, might bite and kick. “They can be a little hard to handle,” Cassandra said. Workplace injuries are common at the track.

Like many backstretch employees, the Zavalas work six or seven days a week –– nearly every week of the year. “There are a lot of people who work every day,” Cassandra said. “I take days off, but occasionally.”

That is why Anna House, with six classrooms and 25 teachers, operates 365 days a year, from 4:45 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Diana Crespo, Anna House’s director, said the preschool added an after-school study center and a summer camp for elementary school-age children in recent years. Nine students are in the after-school program, which is held in one room at Anna House and focuses on reading and math homework help.

Growing up on the backstretch

Jazmin Torres was born in Mexico and grew up in Elmont, spending many days on the backstretch as a child before earning her bachelor’s degree in English from Stony Brook University and becoming an Anna House teacher. Her mother, Juana, was a horse walker, and her father, Fernando, an assistant trainer.
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