Volunteers help prepare center for cold weather

~ The Cape Girardeau Regional Family Resource Center shut down last winter because of high utility bills.

Without the help from the Vincentian Marian Youth, the Cape Girardeau Regional Family Resource Center's winter looked cold, expensive and bleak.

The Cape Girardeau Regional Family Resource Center at 1202 S. Sprigg St., looks like any other run-down building. It was a church before it became the resource center, and pews still line some of the walls upstairs. A closer look reveals tired, worn-out floors, leaky windows and ceilings in desperate need of repair.

The center acts as a link between residents and social programs already available.

"We have had a really shaky history where we have been open for some months and we've been closed. We've had kind of a revolving-door record, and stability has not been our first name," center manager Denise Lincoln said. "I am trying to rebuild the stability and commitment to the neighborhood."

Last January, the utility bill for the center was $1,100, which forced the center to close for the winter.

Lincoln said she knew the center could not afford another winter like last year.

"This is a wonderful building for what we are trying to do, but it is used up," she said. "It is neglected and has many, many needs."

The center's budget is on shaky ground, Lincoln said. While it has applied for some state grants, those take time to come in. With winter fast approaching, time and money from the center's single source of funding, a grant from the Miissouri Department of Social Services, was running out.

That's where the Vincentian Marian Youth came in.

The group is an international association of youth and young adults that gives young Catholics a chance to grow in their faith and form new friendships. Three times a year the local group volunteers time and services where they're needed.

By Saturday afternoon, 26 teenagers from the Perryville area, 12 adults, nine teenagers from the Cape Girardeau and Jackson area finished dropping ceilings and adding insulation, repainting rooms and hallways, putting Styrofoam and plastic over the windows, updating the computer systems and reorganizing the library all to try to help the center save some money this year.

Two of those volunteers were Lateria Flye, 13, and David Penny, 17, who live near the center and spend many of their afternoons volunteering at the after-school program. Lincoln told Lateria about the Vincentian Marian Youth during Thursday's after-school program; Lateria was immediately ready to help.

Lateria said she wanted to help because she's used the building and felt like she should give something back.

"It's the only program like this in out neighborhood," Lateria said.

David, however, learned about the project by chance -- he saw the work being done while he was riding his bike on Sprigg Street.

"I thought it looked like fun," he said.

While some residents may not welcome a helping hand from outsiders, said Linda Wibbenmeyer, a volunteer with Vincentian Marian Youth, there's more to the work they do than just fixing up a building.

Residents need to realize they are helping the Vincentian Marian Youth as much as the Vincentian Marian Youth are helping them, she said.

ameyer@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127