For the Butternut Community Policing Center, “policing” isn’t the key word. It’s “community.”
The center marked it’s first renovation along with it’s one-year anniversary last week and announced plans for expansion at a celebration Thursday Feb. 17.
Pastor James Gebhardt of Father’s Heart Ministries, which made the space available for the center, said that although creating the center only took about two months, the idea for the project was “on his heart for a long time.”
Gebhardt said he has worked in the Northside neighborhood for 15 years, and he and the congregation had discussed creating a center for youth several years ago.
After a violent crime in the neighborhood in 2008, the community sprang to action and met with then-assistant Police Chief Frank Fowler. A few weeks later, in December 2009, the Butternut Community Policing Center opened its doors.
The roughly 800-square-foot center next to Father’s Heart Ministries will double its usable space by converting a part of the basement parking garage into a recreation room. Sugarman
Officer Kenn Burdick said that 120 kids are registered at the center, with 10 to 25 showing up every day after school for activities, tutoring and socializing.
The renovations would make the center more appealing to older children who need an alternative to the street, Burdick said.
“Our volunteer schedule is definitely not full,” Burdick said. Volunteer opportunities are available on a daily, weekly or monthly schedule, or just for special events, he said.
The center operates from 3 to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and offers a structured tutoring program, fishing trips, arts and crafts programs and a variety of other activities for kids.
Visit the Butternut Community Policing Center website for more information.
