Staff Spotlight

I’d like to introduce you to our new Childcare Coordinator, Vic Schalk.  Vic has a Master’s degree in Occupational Therapy from the University of Southern Maine.  She grew up in rural Maine and was very close to her family.  In March of this past year, she made the choice to move to our area.  

“It was a leap of faith,” she explained.  “It was a difficult choice, but it was the right thing.  Everyone here at the Mission has been so supportive, helpful, and welcoming.  And I really needed that support.  It’s made a big difference to me.”

When she first moved here, she was applying for jobs in the Occupational Therapy field, but she wasn’t getting any callbacks.  As she was sitting in the Canonsburg Library one day, trying to figure out what she was going to do for work, she watched a group of little kids walk by in their tiny backpacks, and she suddenly realized that working with our kids here at City Mission was right where she needed to be.  “I think it was the tiny backpacks that got me,” she laughed. She had previously worked with kids at a Day Care and Pre-school when she was in college, and she said, “Ok, let’s give this another try.  I prayed, the door opened, and I walked through.  Our life sometimes comes as a surprise to us, but it never comes as a surprise to the Lord.”

In her previous jobs as an Occupational Therapist, she was doing a lot of good work, working with adults with disabilities who want to continue living at home instead of moving into an assisted living facility.  She would create home care programs for them and manage their supports in order to keep them in their homes.  

“There were people who had so many problems,” she said of her previous jobs, “and I would offer solutions, but in my role, I wasn’t really allowed to offer them Jesus.  There are lots of short-term solutions, but ultimately Jesus is the only way we can overcome our problems.  And here at City Mission it literally says, ‘Jesus Saves’ on the front of the building. It’s pretty amazing what the Mission does, sharing Jesus as the cornerstone of recovery.  As long as we continue to put Jesus first, it will continue to bear fruit in people’s lives.”

As City Mission’s Childcare Coordinator, Vic watches the children who live in our Women with Children shelter while their moms are working on their recovery: taking classes, going to appointments or meetings, participating in recovery programs, looking for work, or just taking time to work on themselves.  

“I’m enabling the moms to focus on what they need to do to get stable, so they can be in a better place for themselves and their kids,” Vic explained.  

But she’s also ministering to the children.  “I try to create a safe and stable place for the kids,” she said.  “I try to model calmness and consistency for them. I try to teach them to be kind and to be good friends to each other and to treat others the way they want to be treated.  I try to instill those things into them.”

It’s important to Vic to be in constant communication with the moms about what happens in the childcare area.  “At lunchtime, I go and sit with the moms and connect with them.  I need to be accountable to them about what’s going on here,” she said.  “I try to keep an open communication with them and keep expectations for their kids consistent.  I really listen to what the moms have to say, and I’m very open to what they tell me about what works for their kids and what doesn’t work.”  

It's also really important to Vic to use local resources to help give the kids meaningful and memorable experiences.  Recently, she has started taking the kids down the street to Firefly Gardens, a small green space located in the heart of downtown Washington.  It provides an opportunity for our kids to get out in the sun and play in the dirt and the grass.  “There are spaces out in the community that can be enriching for our kids in ways that we don’t have for them here on campus,” Vic said.

Her favorite thing about her job is all the growth that she gets to see every day – the growth in all the little kids that come to City Mission’s childcare area, but also growth within herself.

‍Some Fast Facts about Vic

‍Hobbies

Reading, writing, paddleboarding at Peters Lake, and sewing.  She recently pulled her sewing machine out of storage, and she’s ready to get to work.

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‍Favorite Books

Persuasion by Jane Austen

Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott

Favorite Kids Book

The Mysterious Benedict Society (she used to work in the Children’s section at the library)

Favorite movies

Star Wars – all the Star Wars movies and tv shows

Favorite tv shows

Great British Baking Show

Favorite Vacations

Weekend trips to Acadia National Park

A family vacation to Singapore