Grove City Messenger - February 25th, 2024

Best Place to Work - Small Category (under 50 employees)
www.columbusmessenger.com February 25, 2024 - GROVE CITY MESSENGER - PAGE 13
In a community of countless businesses, large and small, with
thousands of employees working each day, childcare — available,
safe, affordable, high quality, excellent, childcare is a critical and
vital component to the success of those businesses and our community.
The Grove City Area Chamber of Commerce is very proud to
announce the winner of our 2023 Best Place to Work — Small
Category (under 50 employees), is Stepping Stone Child Care.
Congratulations to owners and sisters, Ghaida Aqel and Maysa
Aqel and to their staff, team, and families.
This small business with a big vision and an even bigger heart
opens its doors each day to over 65 children ages 6 weeks to 5-
years-old. Each member of this dedicated staff is CPR Certified,
and First Aid Certified, and has passed multiple background
checks. While Stepping Stone is designed as more of a daycare
than a traditional school, every child, from the youngest baby to
the oldest, is taught by an expert teacher who must follow a
detailed, specialized, structured curriculum created and designed
for their age group.
Ghaida, educated in HR and Business Management, and sister
Maysa Aqel impart the vision to their staff of 15 teachers, a facility
assistant, a cook, floaters, and other part-time team members
and continue to encourage and support them. In late 2020 and
early 2021, they began to search for a facility, but it seemed that
every door was closed to them — too big, too small, not zoned for
childcare, too expensive, and on and on. When the location on
Stringtown Road opened, they jumped on it, and with a few more
twists and turns, the rest is history.
This family loves Grove City and they love what they do.
Ghaida says that as she looks back, everything seems very clear —
things work together, and everything happens for a reason. This
very successful sister team is self-taught and continues to
embrace the idea that if you want something and you work hard,
Stepping Stone Childcare was awarded Best Place to Work: Small Category (fewer than 50 employees). Photo
provided by Stepping Stone Childcare.
follow your dreams, and be patient, it will happen for
you. Isn’t that a life motto that we would all love our
children to follow?
When asked why they think they won this very special
award, Ghaida said, “We take care of our team,
good pay and benefits, a safe, clean place to work and
we treat them like family. Same thing for all the children
and their families — we are all family. We get
together outside of work, have regular potluck’s, and
we laugh, cry, and encourage each other.”
The vision for the future is pretty clear: continue to
maintain our reputation for excellence, grow the business
by word of mouth, fill the daycare to compliance
capacity, don’t take too many things too personally,
and possibly consider additional locations. If you want
it summed up, this female-owned and all-female staff
will tell you that it’s “All about love and Girl Power all
the way!”
Now in Grove
City
At Zangmeiste er Cancer Center we coll laborate with our
colleagues in radiation therapy, surgery, genetics, pathology
and
clinical researc ch to ensure each patien nt has a comprehensive
,
multidisciplinar ry plan of care. Support from our pharmacists,
social workers , nurse navigators, dietiti ians and financial
counselors min nimize the impact of cancer cer on daily life.
A DIVISION OF AMERICAN ONCOLOGY PAR TNERS, P.A.
We del liver the most adv vanced and innova ative treatments fo ocused on each patient for
the best possible expe erience — becaus e each patient’ ’s cancer journey is unique.
5500 North Meado ows Dr., Suite 230, Grove City, OH 43123 | ZangCenter.
com