The East End Family Resource Center has expanded across town, and will now provide educational activities for parents and children, as well as offer diapers, clothes, hot meals and snacks for kids, on the West Side of Charleston.
Representatives of the center opened their new West Side facility at 1410 4th Ave. on Tuesday morning and announced the nonprofit organization will now be called the Charleston Family Resource Center.
Terri Berkley, the center's executive director, said the organization has the capacity to serve about 120 families during the first year. By fall of 2017, they hope to serve 250 families. All services are free.
Berkley said some students have their last hot meal at lunch, and some West Side children were traveling to the East End Family Resource Center to participate in its programs.
Now those kids will be able to have a hot meal and snack at the West Side facility, and some will be able to walk to the new center.
"Today we not only expand our services but we expand our mission of building bridges of opportunity," she said.
The center will provide academic enrichment activities for students from Mary C. Snow West Side Elementary, which is only a few blocks away, during intermission periods, meaning times of the year when the year-round school is not in session. Michael Farmer, the after-school director, said they hope to open to all West Side schools.
It will also serve as a site for the Parents as Teachers program, which provides families with resources and support needed to help young children learn and develop.
The center, which is still being renovated, will also serve as a community center for the West Side. It includes a gym/multipurpose room, conference room, dance hall, classrooms, and a kitchen, among other spaces.
The Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation provided funding for educational offerings during the intersessions. The state Department of Health and Human Resources provided funding for the Parents as Teachers program.
Resurrection Church, which owns the building, is not charging the center for the use of the facility. The church also plans to begin services at the center in the summer of 2017.
Matt Sutton, a board member, said the initiative was staff-led.
"They came to us and said there's a need, and we have the ability to help, and we want to go help, and they made it happen," he said.
The Busy Little Hands playgroup, for families with children ages 5 and younger, will be held on the second and fourth Wednesday from noon to 2 p.m. at the West Side location.
The diaper pantry at the West Side location is open on Tuesday and Thursday from noon to 7:30 p.m. and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
For more information, call the center at 304-344-1656.
Reach Erin Beck at 304-348-5163, erin.beck@wvgazettemail.com, Facebook.com/erinbeckwv, or follow @erinbeckwv on Twitter.