By Thea Jarvis

On a crisp morning in early March, the playground at St. Anthony's Day Care Center in West End is awash with the sounds of children.

Perched on a gym set, swinging from sturdy metal bars, picking gingerly at a large mound of red dirt that sits enticingly in the fenced yard, the youngsters radiate warmth and welcome.

Inside, though quieter, the atmosphere is much the same. Surrounded by light, airy space and friendly, caring adults, the children are interested, alert, smiling, thriving -- delighted to have their pictures taken!

It was five years ago that this now-successful adventure in childcare was officially launched. The brainchild of Father Eusebius Beltran, the dynamic pastor who arrived at St. Anthony's in 1972 and left to be Bishop of Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1978, the day care center was a genuine response to a community need.

St. Anthony's parish school had grown, doubling its enrollment after 1972. "Many of the students in our school had younger brothers and sisters who had to be placed in day care centers during the day," Bishop Beltran recalled recently in a letter to his friends at the southwest Atlanta parish who were celebrating the center's fifth anniversary.

Concern for the "younger brothers and sisters" was what turned parish attention to day care. Looking about for a facility, the parish first considered a vacant house on Howell Place as a possible site. But a state inspection determined that the house was unsuitable.

To renovate the house according to state specifications would have been costly and time consuming. "We decided it would be easier to construct a new building," Bishop Beltran explained.

The center was eventually built on two vacant lots just behind St. Anthony's School on Gordon Street and took "months of planning and preparation and soliciting of funds," said the Oklahoma bishop.

Today, standing proud, St. Anthony's boasts "the only Catholic child care center in the city of Atlanta," according to director Carol Williams, who has been teaching at the center for four years.

Seventy-two children, aged 15 months to six years, are accommodated at the year-round facility, which is open five days a week from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mrs. Williams, who succeeded former directors Mary Blake and Geraldine Rainey, estimates that there is presently a waiting list of 25 to 30 children.

What is St. Anthony's secret of success? Why do the little ones who attend the center laugh and sing and look so downright happy? The answer lies in the care and attention given the children by St. Anthony's staff.

"What we do for them now will determine what they will become," emphasized Carol Williams. "We're with them most of the time."

The majority of the teachers have been at the center for four or five years and know the children and their families well. They are not content to be mere "babysitters," but take the youngsters through their pre-academic paces with daily precision.

"Sister Angela is our educational coordinator," said Carol Williams, pointing with pride to the oversized schedule posted on an inside wall.

The schedule, followed by all the teachers and adapted to age and maturity levels, includes religion, phonics, math, science, health, safety and art. Field trips to the theatre, the zoo and local museums, plus special visits to St. Anthony's Church are interspersed with regular scheduling.

"The children went over to church on Ash Wednesday," Carol Williams noted, and St. Anthony's pastor, "Father John (Adamski) comes over frequently and teaches them songs."

Complementing the strength of the staff is the support and enthusiasm of an active parents' organization. "We have very concerned parents who are really interested and enthused," Mrs. Williams observed.

"They made the curtains one Saturday," she continued, motioning to the bright yellow window coverings decorated with whimsical animal shapes. "Now they are working on the playground. Each family is donating funds for needed equipment -- we still have a lot of financial goals we have to meet."

The future goals of St. Anthony's Day Care Center will no doubt be achieved through the drive and determination that has insured its past successes.

And undergirding all its efforts, the love and concern the center extends to the children it serves promises that St. Anthony's will have a sea of happy young faces to share in its dreams.