Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 1, 1993 TAG: 9303310418
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LYNN A. COYLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
YOUTH CENTER IS EXPANDING, DESPITE HURDLES
"Due to the Present Economic Uncertainties, the light at the end of the tunnel will be turned off until further notice."Just don't tell that to the folks at the West End Center for Youth.
The sign was posted on the office door of the center's old building, but apparently no one noticed it. The center provides a safe haven for kids in kindergarten through 12th grade who come for after-school activities, snacks and tutoring.
This week center staff, participants and volunteers are moving into their new building at Patterson Avenue and 13th Street Southwest, giving them about twice the space and increasing the center's capacity to 150 children for five days a week.
In the old, cramped quarters, the center's enrollment was limited to 100 youngsters, who had to come on alternate days. Others had to put their names on a waiting list until there was space for them to enroll.
Making the new center a reality has taken the blood, sweat, tears and money of a remarkably diverse contingent of individuals, groups, businesses and government sources. Past President Sallie Garst, a Realtor, handled the building purchase and got a Community Development Block Grant to fund it. Board member and lawyer Bill Leach did legal work for the closing.
The board then was faced with raising the money and resources to renovate the center.
"It looked like such a big, insurmountable pile of money," said Karen Ramsey, the center's board president and human resources manager for Cox Cable. So she agreed to go after it.
The Roanoke Athletic Club held a sock hop and raised $1,800. Lawrence Hamlar, president of Hamlar-Curtis Funeral Home, helped secure a $2,000 grant from The York Children's Foundation.
When the project is completed, estimates are that renovating and furnishing the first phase will be an $80,000 to $90,000 job, of which $50,000 will have been donated materials, labor and services.
Board member Peggy vanBlaricom of vanBlaricom Design Associates and her husband, architect Richard Rife, volunteered to do the plans for the renovation. Dave Barrell, board member and supervisor for Carter's Cabinet Shop of Roanoke, is the unpaid project manager.
The building was purchased in July but it took until September to get all the permits and begin work on demolishing the interior, ripping out an old stage and concrete walls.
Parents, board members, employees and people off the street came to help clear the dead plants and other debris that had accumulated for years in the vacant building. Alison Weaver, the board's vice president, brought her husband, Mayor David Bowers, to help.
Ankle-deep broken glass in the back alley took two weekends to clear away. "Some of the guys that helped were the very guys that hang out on the street and probably throw the glass down," said Kaye Hale, the center's director for the past seven years.
"We asked if they could help keep this alley clean." Since then, Hale said, she hasn't seen more than a couple of broken bottles in the alley.
After Waste Management of Virginia-Blue Ridge hauled away the debris and paid the dumping fees, a work group from Christ Episcopal Church framed the interior. The Rotary Club of Roanoke, Downtown, painted the interior, and Roanoke's Community Oriented Police Effort did the exterior. Ren Heard of Renovation Specialists and other members of the West End Association installed a roof that was donated by John T. Morgan Roofing & Sheet Metal Co.
Artist Steve Owens designed a mural that the center's children painted on the front of the building. Walter Wise of the International Association of Bridge Structural & Ornamental Iron Workers Local Union 697 had an apprenticeship class build and erect the basketball hoop . A Bridgewater College group came to help clean up before the carpeting was installed.
Talk about recycling. Allstate Insurance Companies regional operations center was being remodeled so Ramsey asked for the old ceiling tiles and lights, which were headed for the trash bin.
Barrell, the project manager, arranged to work for Carter's Cabinets four 10-hour days per week so he could devote the fifth workday, plus nights, weekends and even vacation time, to the project. He's almost single-handedly built the interior.
Carter's has donated materials, labor and appliances for the kitchen and office furniture.
Main Heating & Air Conditioning and Hajoca Corp. were two of the many neighborhood businesses that pitched in to help. Hajoca donated all the plumbing supplies, and Main donated the labor to service the heating and air-conditioning units and change the duct work to accommodate the restructuring.
Cox Cable, another neighborhood business, made many contributions, including purchasing bathroom flooring and using its bucket trucks to install outdoor lights. The company allowed the center's vice president, Ramsey, to do volunteer work, and other employees to install the kitchen and bathroom floors, all on company time.
Ramsey, who says she's not a salesperson, is given most of the credit for the donations that have poured in. Hardly anybody said no when she asked to help, she said.
"It's really given me a positive feeling about the Roanoke Valley and the businesses here," said Ramsey, who moved from Richmond in 1988. "I don't think anything like this ever would have happened there."
The Bicentennial Fund of the Presbyterian Churches has pledged to raise $72,000 for Phase II, the education wing.
Ramsey and Hale were much more anxious to give credit to the project's many contributors than to take credit themselves. Not all of those contributors can be listed but because of them, the West End Center for Youth can serve more children.
Even though the new center will be occupied, there still are many needs. Hale said the most immediate, pressing needs are: 6-foot tables for kids to do activities; a microwave oven; typewriter; office desk; shelves; filing cabinets; and three phones, costing about $100 each, to match the new phone system.
Also, "money, money, money," says van Blaricom. Because the center will be serving so many more children on an expanded schedule and it costs more to operate the larger building, this year's budget of $116,500 is $40,000 higher than last year's.
If you can help or would like more information on the West End Center for Youth, call 342-0902.