By Lori BODNAR, intern

For those who’ve needed childcare while working, even while working from home, the Rescue Sitters are ready to lend a hand. The Rescue Sitters, founded this year by Aleek Tabakian and Grace Hovsepian, babysit kids so that parents can focus on their jobs during the pandemic. They provide free childcare from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays. In addition to Tabakian and Hovsepian, the Rescue Sitters include Lilly Boghossian, Solange Meserkhani, Lori Shabazian, Tatiana Tabakian, Aleena Kendrijian and Karine Tandratsyan. The all-girl group attended Rose and Alex Pilibos Armenian School and are alumnae of Vahan and Anoush Chamlian Armenian School in La Crescenta.

The idea for the Rescue Sitters originated after the girls saw parents struggling to juggle their work life while looking after their kids at home, particularly during remote learning.

“When COVID-19 started, my siblings and I would come every day to my parents’ business,” said Hovsepian. “We saw a lot of the workers trying to focus on work while having to watch their kids. We then came up with the idea of helping out these parents by babysitting the kids for free. I shared this idea with Aleek and we [approached our] close group of friends to help these parents.”

Tabakian added, “We want to do this to help the community by babysitting for free. We also help the kids with their homework.”

Their altruistic outreach will hopefully be around after COVID-19 is just a memory. The Rescue Sitters are planning to continue providing childcare after the pandemic is over. The current group comprises eight 14 and 15 year old girls who are certified in CPR and babysitting.

The Rescue Sitters are a non-profit organization and every donation they receive is sent to a charity.

“Since we are a non-profit, if we get donations we send them to charities. Since the explosion happened in Lebanon, we have donated to Lebanon. The donations also go to Armenia for COVID-19 supplies or to other charities,” said Hovsepian.

The Rescue Sitters are taking precautions to reduce the spread of COVID-19 when providing childcare.

“We bring masks, hand sanitizers, and gloves when we babysit,” said Tabakian. “We sanitize once every 30 minutes and wear gloves the entire time. We also set up Zoom meetings to watch the kids, tutor and entertain them if the parents are not comfortable with people entering their house during the pandemic.”

The Rescue Sitters send two of their sitters to the home location for two hours. The Rescue Sitters try to be outside as much as possible when babysitting in person so the kids can get away from screens and also to reduce the risk exposure to COVID-19.

Parents can contact the Rescue Sitters at Instagram: @rescuesitters and their email rescuesitters20@gmail.com. The Rescue Sitters are also making a website for their non-profit childcare program and they will add the link to their Instagram once they get the website up.

  Lori BODNAR