Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 2, 1994 TAG: 9408020097
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Apco donated to the YWCA a 5,000-square-foot building, known as the Irwin Building, that adjoins the YWCA Central Center on First Street in downtown Roanoke.
The building will be razed and the 20,000-square-foot child-care center built in its place and on surrounding land.
``We will be building a comprehensive child-care facility - a facility that is able to provide services for children with special needs as well as for healthy children,'' said Virginia Allison, YWCA president.
Called the ``Bogardus Project,'' the new child-care center will include services for disabled children 6 weeks to 2 years old. It will provide services for visually impaired children and those in need of audiology services or physical, occupational or speech therapy.
A ``Chicken Soup Program'' will provide day care for mildly ill children of working parents.
The center will be equipped with activities to encourage early childhood development and creativity. They will include an aquarium and environmental area with a greenhouse; an indoor sandbox area with a desert theme; an indoor playhouse and puppet theater; an indoor wading pool with a jungle theme; a rooftop playground; and a mini-amphitheater.
The center, scheduled to open in September 1996, will be the first of its kind in Virginia, said Wendy O'Neil, YWCA executive director.
The project was named after Horace P. Bogardus, a character in the 1941 movie ``The Bells of Saint Mary's,'' who, after a change of heart, donated a building to a group of nuns rather than tear it down for a parking lot.
Apco once considered buying the YWCA Central Center, tearing it down and paving the space for a parking lot, O'Neil said. The YWCA, however, envisioned expansion to provide programs and services that would empower women and their families.
Apco President Joseph Vipperman said he and O'Neil started discussing the Bogardus project a year ago, with an eye toward using the Irwin Building, which Apco had used for storage.
Apco scattered the materials to other storage sites in order to make the property available to the YWCA, Vipperman said.
``It was clear that the YWCA had a vision,'' he said. ``It also was evident that Apco could play a significant role in being one of the initial participants in this very worthwhile project.''
The project is being funded through a variety of sources, O'Neil said.
``We're receiving individual contributions although we are not hosting a formal capital campaign for that in the Roanoke Valley,'' she said. ``There is support for this project inside the Roanoke Valley, as well as from outside foundations and private contributions.''
YWCA President-elect Ibby Greer made a $25,000 donation to the project.
``As a mother and one who was a divorced single parent for eight years, I know the value of good child care because I didn't have any,'' Greer said. ``I would like to help provide good child care for other parents.''
by CNB