THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 31, 1994 TAG: 9407290292
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 17 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHYLLIS SPEIDELL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
The local Girls Inc., formerly the Girls Club of Portsmouth, hopes to hold a groundbreaking ceremony for its Center for Youth of Southwest Hampton Roads in the spring of 1995.
The proposed $1.16 million center would allow the organization to expand its programming to youngsters in western Chesapeake, Suffolk and Isle of Wight County. The 12,000-square-foot building is planned for a 2.5-acre site on Portsmouth Boulevard in the Hodges Manor Section.
The site, convenient to major thoroughfares, is not far from the Portsmouth-Chesapeake border and also is easily accessible to Suffolk residents.
But there's one hitch: Girls Inc. needs to come up with $43,000 by Aug. 15.
Without the cash in hand, the organization will have to postpone indefinitely its plans for the center.
To close on the land by the Aug. 15 deadline, Girls Inc. needs $60,000 cash.
The United Way has pledged funding for 49 percent of the building's costs. Although other pledges, including a significant pledge from the Beazley Foundation, have been made, Girls Inc. has received only $17,000 in cash.
``The situation is critical if we are to close on the land,'' said Michelle Johnson, Girls Inc. executive director.
Each year, Girls Inc. serves more than 1,000 boys and girls, ages 3 to 16, from its current center on Race Street in the Westhaven section of Portsmouth. But that center is showing signs of severe deterioration.
The World War II-era building was used as an annex to Westhaven Elementary School and for storage until the Girls Club of Portsmouth moved into the facility in the early 1960s.
``Patchwork repairs are no longer feasible,'' said Michael Spencer, a member of the Girls Inc. Board of Directors who heads the capital campaign. ``Major renovations are needed to comply with state regulations.''
Preliminary estimates show it might be a waste of money to repair the current structure, said Spencer, principal of Waters Middle School. So, without a new building, there will be no Center for Youth.
If funded, the new center would include classrooms, offices, library, kitchen, a multipurpose room, locker rooms and an aquatics center with an indoor swimming pool. Transportation to the new center would be provided to children.
Currently, before- and after-school programs, as well as full-day summer programming, provide a home away from home for hundreds of children.
Girls Inc. also sponsors programs aimed at substance abuse, conflict resolution, peer pressure and teen pregnancy.
``All of our programming is preventive,'' Johnson said. ``Our goal is to meet the youngsters where they are in order to prevent problems.''
Johnson added that many residents don't entirely understand what the group does.
``A lot of people have the impression that we serve low-income, impoverished children, and that is not true,'' she said. ``Most of our youngsters are from low- to middle-income households, facing normal issues that youngsters are confronting during their developmental years and that we are equipped to address.''
Girls Inc. membership in Portsmouth is almost an equal number of boys and girls.
Girls Inc. of Portsmouth is one of 135 affiliates of the national Girls Inc., which was organized in 1945 as the Girls Clubs of America. Several years ago, the national group changed its name to Girls Inc.
In 1958, the Portsmouth Service League opened the first local Girls Club with a $20,000 donation and thousands of volunteer hours.
``Our first location was downtown on South Street, a three-story Victorian house painted . . . yellow,'' recalled Mary Hook, one of the original volunteers. by CNB