Family affair: O'Briens put hearts into building early-childhood learning centers
“If you build it, they will come.”
This quote from the 1989 film “Field of Dreams” is apt for the Hugs-n-Hearts Early Learning Center run by Pam O’Brien.
When Pam and husband Tim opened the first Hugs-n-Hearts in 1994 at 8989 Antares Ave., the Polaris area was largely farmland. “Then the area started booming and we expanded along with it,” Pam said.
Two years later, they broke ground on a second building on Antares Avenue, then connected a third by a walkway in 2010. The north campus in Lewis Center opened in 2014.
Between the four buildings, about 5,000 children from 18 months old to fifth grade have been educated at Hugs-n-Hearts. Currently, almost 500 youngsters are enrolled and there’s a waiting list ? not just for students, but teachers hoping to work at one of the centers.
“There’s very little turnover. That makes me feel that we’re doing something right,” said Pam, who holds a degree in early-childhood education. “Happy teachers make happy kids and happy kids make happy parents.”
Praising Hugs-n-Hearts’ 70 or so teachers as “the glue that keeps us together,” she modestly asserted, “You’re only as good as the people you have around you.”
Hugs-n-Hearts is a family affair for Pam and Tim. Son Riley is an accountant for the centers, while daughter Bridget Keane is an intervention specialist, and daughter Randi Keene oversees the kindergarten and elementary buildings.
Randi’s husband, Josh, runs the north campus and does accounting. Riley’s wife, Calin, has another job but helps out at the centers. The O’Briens’ six grandchildren also attend Hugs-n-Hearts and a seventh is on the way.
After three decades of building a dream, Pam doesn’t foresee moving on anytime soon. “This has always been in my blood. I never dreamed it would be this big, that it would expand to this point,” she said.
“To be able to do what I love for 30 years, I’m blessed.”
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Hugs-n-Hearts learning centers founder devoted to childhood education