Preserve Amaya Papaya Playlounge

I started Amaya Papaya Playlounge in 2009 after being a full time working mom helping girls and their families as a counselor at a local non-profit agency. After dropping Amaya off at daycare one too many times, I knew there had to be a better solution for my need to work, my want to have her with me during the day, and my passion for helping families in our community.

For so long I longed for a place where my daughter could play freely in an age-appropriate environment; thus, the idea for Amaya Papaya was born. After working on a solid business plan for two years, my husband and I launched Amaya Papaya. Amaya Papaya is an indoor play space where parents can bring their children 0 -5 years old to play anytime, celebrate birthdays, attend classes, and shop for one-of-a-kind local goods.

Over the 4 1/2 years that Amaya Papaya has been open, it has proven itself to be a successful concept. We have increased our profits by over 17% since we opened in 2009. Although the holiday months are typically our slowest months (October - December), we typically have prepared ourselves to be okay during these months by saving a nest egg from the busy spring and summer months. However, this past year we suffered a few unfortunate situations that have caused hardship to our beloved AP, and we are now in a situation where this could be our last spring/summer in business. (Our lease is up in August of 2014) In late May of 2013 we were the target of a burglary. The thieves were nice enough to leave our toys untouched but took every electronic item that allowed our business to be functional and damaged items that were very expensive to repair. Although our insurance covered some of the cost, it did not pay for everything. This caused us to use funds that usually would have been allotted for use during our holiday/winter slow season to become somewhat fully operational into the busy summer months. Adding to our circumstance, this holiday/winter season has been unusually slow due to the unseasonably warm weather causing us to suffer over a $6000 loss in revenue. While already hard to do so while attempting to grow a business, any salary that I intended to pay myself for 2013 was eliminated. My staff hours have been trimmed to the minimum to at least allow me to have a few days off during the week. These situations coupled with some personal situations (family medical issues, personal medical issues, the burglary of my own home a week after AP was burglarized (not related) and my husbands car being totaled) have caused an unfortunate downward spiral of a great place.

Over the past few months, I have internally wrestled with how to inform the Amaya Papaya community about our hardship. Additionally, I've wrestled with whether or not I should ask for help. So many people utilize our space and see the success of our business. When I have shared our hardship with people over the past year, they are stunned to know about our circumstance. The illusion of Amaya Papaya is that we are ALWAYS busy and that we ALWAYS have something happening here. The truth is that I spend countless hours planning events. We are busy on some days; however, it takes consistent support to sustain a business. I wish to keep Amaya Papaya open and see it thrive; however, I cannot do this without the help of our community.

With over 50K in donations given out to the community from Amaya Papaya over the past four and a half years, I hope that our community can now come together to help us. Amaya Papaya is a community place. Over the years I have seen countless children take their first steps, learn new skills, and create cherished moments with their family. Parents have come to Amaya Papaya to learn new skills such as CPR & couponing, and planning birthday parties. Many have formed new friendships while their children play in the lounge. If we are able to keep Amaya Papaya open, my hope is to expand to an extent where Amaya Papaya can support a greater community on a national and global level. Locally we will continue to support the countless community organizations that we donate to on a yearly basis. Of the many programs that we have formed, I would love to see our Mama's With Ideas Urban Think Tank become a program that helps women - old and young - create and sustain businesses, and I also would love to form a work/school program for young women who are mothers and want to go to school to obtain their college degree.

Your contribution 

You can contribute in the following ways:

A financial contribution. Your contribution will go towards: -allowing us to catch up on monthly overhead -toy updates -formation of our non-profit

Share our campaign with your friends & followers on: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google +, Linkedin and your email contacts. Keep coming to PLAY & supporting our events. Our lease does not end until September so we plan to PLAY at least until then....But we are hopeful, with your support, that we will survive and thrive!

Give your time. We have sustained over the years with the help of our wonderful Amaya Papaya Ambassadors who have generously given of their time. Now more that ever, we need awesome people to help us in the lounge and with projects for the lounge. Contact me to find out more about volunteering.

Thank you for in advance for your support! I am eternally grateful for the Amaya Papaya community that we have built together.

Yolonda,

Amaya's Mom, Founder, Owner and Operator