YOYO Building now the Daytime Home for Preschool children   

            For close to half a century, Your Orcutt Youth Organization (YOYO) was a hub of activities.  Now, instead of the sound of activities from youth events such as Elks Queen fundraisers and youth recreation, the YOYO building at 725 E. Foster Road is hosting a much younger generation.      
            Little Bees Preschool is the daytime home for 19 children between the age of infancy to five years.    
The building has been repaired inside and out. No more graffiti, broken windows have been replaced, trash cleaned up, landscaping added. The building has been redecorated, creating a kid-friendly atmosphere.    
             Within the past decade, rising maintenance costs in the vacant building became a financial burden for the YOYO board of directors. But according to Bill Gill, who has served 15 years on the board of directors, “the future of YOYO and youth scholarships took a leap forward to a brighter future with the St. Patrick’s Day opening of Little Bees Preschool.” 
            The YOYO Board has entered a five-year lease agreement with an option to extend to 15 years with Sandra and Felipe Bees.  
              Gill is exuberant with the arrangement. “It’s a win-win for YOYO and Little Bees,” he says. “We will have the income to provide scholarships for students from Righetti, Delta, St. Joseph and Orcutt Academy high schools.  We will be able to give five or ten thousand dollars in scholarships or more on an annual basis.”
               By providing scholarships, board member Mark Zimmer says YOYO now can, “build up a revenue stream so that we can stimulate Orcutt youth to move through life and help possibly less advantaged students to improve themselves to be self-sufficient adults.”  
Sandra Bees says the opportunity to operate her own preschool, “has been a dream of mine.”  She and her husband, who owns Sharp Scapes Landscaping, have four children. She was a preschool teacher at the Montessori School in Lompoc for four years.  Bees also has worked at Columbia Children’s Center in Santa Maria and served as the enrollment and records specialist for the Olive Grove charter schools that has locations in Santa Maria, Orcutt, San Luis Obispo and Buellton. She is state certified to operate a preschool with up to 49 children.  
          Bees says because of the cost of childcare, she is constantly looking for grants and scholarships to help parents who need financial help.  Local grant sources include Santa Barbara County Education Department and Children’s Resource and Referral of Santa Maria.   
          Bees says the pre-kindergarten program offers readiness in early literacy and math and offers, “hands on learning and creativity, social and emotional development, and outdoor play and exploration.”
  Steve Southwick reporting