When people with children have to work, there are others who decide to make it their job to care for the kids of these working parents.

Day care centers have helped millions find a place to take care of their children while they go off to work.

DeKalb has its share of day care centers that are faring well despite economy, government and demand.

The Salvation Army’s Day Care Center has a capacity of 66 kids and has full waiting lists.

“We get lots of donations, so we’re not in trouble from the economy,” said Keysha Hoffman, administrator of the day care.

Lynne Switzky, executive director of the Children’s Learning Center, said due to turnover, there’s not many openings because they get filled soon after they’re cleared.

“We serve about 110 kids a day,” Switzky said. “Our biggest problem right now is state subsidy.”

The government doesn’t pay CLC enough in subsidy, and the payment they sent has taken time to get to CLC.

“We’re still waiting for a payment that’s months late,” Switzky said.

First Day Care Director Kari Matushek said their joint day care/pre-school program has been very successful.

“We have a capacity of 68 children, and most students are part-time,” she said. “We offer the only flex pay rate, or part day rate, in DeKalb, that I know of.”

The number of parents with part-time schedules makes the flex pay system one reason they’re almost always full.

“Most of the time students are here on a part-time basis,” Matushek said. “Then their parents move up at work and decide to enroll their children full-time.”

Another reason for their success is their diligence in making sure that people on their waiting lists are constantly updated on openings and asked whether or not they want to remain on the list.

“Waiting lists can be misleading and they take a lot of time to go back and forth on,” Matushek said. “You could have someone who’s been on the list for a year and have found care somewhere else.”

First Day Care staff said they call people on their waiting lists weekly to update them.

“Right now there is one person on a waiting list and two open spots in the five year old class,” Matushek said.

The high demand is good for the day cares around DeKalb, and they expect the Christmas season won’t affect business dramatically.