BACK
1960'S - BUILDING A BROADER BASE
Helene Hill became director in 1966.
A huge project during this time was the construction of a new building. This was comprised of an expansion of the existing day care center by twice and the addition of other facilities. The new facilities included a craft room and three basic group meeting rooms. A large meeting room was also included in the plans and quickly became used for a wide variety of purposes. Provision was also made for enlarged offices.
During the construction , Community House occupied rented facilities for a year at the school building related to Our Lady of Sorrows Church.
While the building project was underway, programming continued to develop briskly. Students from nearby colleges and universities as well as Vista Volunteers were used. There were beginnings of community development efforts and a senior citizen program. Day care mothers saw the need for a summer program for pre-schoolers entering kindergarten. In response, Community House offered a six week summer program, which ran for two ears before the advent of the now famous Head Start Program.
Older children also had summer opportunities in the form of a state licensed day camp, operating at one of the county parks. High school and college students were recruited as camp counselors, creating an inter-racial staff with a balance of neighborhood young people and outside volunteers.
The Toy Store was a development that grew out of the continuing needs in our very low-income community—the search for a dignified way in which to give material things. Volunteers from churches of the city were used to operate the store. Neighborhood families, whose children were a part of the Community House program, were invited at Christmas time to choose, at no cost, gifts for their children. Each got an article of clothing and a toy.
Another first was the purchase of a station wagon with trading stamps! One of the groups that used this vehicle often was a group of girls who sang for the “Methodist” (as Community House began to be called.) The “Community Singers” filled many engagements both in and out of the city, helping greatly in raising funds for the new building and in making Community House widely known.
Refinements in the changes begun on the Board of Directors were also made. From almost all Methodists on the decision-making body, the Board became a combination of one0thired Methodists, one-third neighborhood people (within the geographical limits of the service area,) and one-third individuals from the community at-large. The latter category enabled Community House to become a channel to the city of which it is a part.