Hollister
– After a year and a half of work, the boys and girls staying at
Chamberlain’s Children Center have a new playground. It is the
beginning of what directors and volunteers have in mind for the
campus’s future.
Hollister – After a year and a half of work, the boys and girls staying at Chamberlain’s Children Center have a new playground. It is the beginning of what directors and volunteers have in mind for the campus’s future.
“It started off with us just thinking we could raise some money for a new fence and a little playground equipment,” said Dennis Reeves, treasurer on Chamberlain’s board. “And it just grew from there.”
The center is a last-chance home for children with emotional or behavior issues – most are victims of severe child abuse – who cannot be placed in conventional foster care. Staff at the center focus on teaching social skills so that one day the children can attend public school and be placed with a family. Roughly 20 to 25 children between the ages of 6 and 17 reside at the center.
Making over the playground was the brainchild of Leadership San Benito’s class of 2005. Leadership is a local nonprofit designed to encourage residents to become involved in their community and train them to effect change. The 30 students pledged to raise $50,000 to build a new fence – the center sits off busy San Benito Street toward Union and nothing was in place to stop children from running into the road – and use the remaining funds to install some new playground equipment.
As awareness of the project grew, more and more residents and organizations decided to become involved.
“Chamberlain’s is a tremendous organization that had just been forgotten for many years,” Reeves said. Reeves was a member of the Leadership class, and the project inspired him to seek a position on the board. Two other Leadership students have since followed suit. “So when people started learning a little more about what they do and what they don’t have, they started jumping in to help.”
Center Executive Director Doreen Crumrine said more than 100 people have volunteered their time or donated funds to help with the project. Because of that generosity, volunteers have been able to install an entirely new playground, build a barbecue island, put up a hammock, re-sod the field and install new sprinklers, and are putting the finishing touches on the landscaping and a backstop for softball. The children were allowed to play in their new “park,” as they have dubbed it, for the first time on Halloween.
“It’s beautiful,” Crumrine said. “And the kids are so excited; they love it. Something really special has happened for them, and they really get that.”
But the work is far from over. The Board of Directors has put together a plan to renovate the entire campus over the next three or four years. While the center constructed a new housing facility in 2000, most of the buildings on the premise are much older and in need of repair. One of the buildings was constructed in the late 1920s.
“One of the houses is just a modified double trailer,” Reeves said. “And we’ve spent a lot of money this year just to keep the roofs on some of (the buildings) from leaking.”
Reeves said the board has estimated the project will cost between $3 million and $4 million, and is starting a capital campaign this year. And Chamberlain’s is asking anyone who would be interested in volunteering with such a project in the future to sign up at its Web site, www.chamberlaincc.org.
“We want to make the campus more inviting,” Reeves said. “Not luxurious, but we want it to look like, ‘Hey, someone cares’ … because for most of these kids that 90 percent of the problem.”
For more information or to volunteer visit Chamberlain’s Web site or call 831-636-2121.
Danielle Smith covers education for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or ds****@fr***********.com.
