A GIFT TO YOUTH

By Judy Normand/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF

The city’s young folks will soon have a “home away from home” as a newly-established youth center at 510 Rhinehart Road opens its doors in mid-April.

Thursday evening, plans for the youth center were officially announced during a gala banquet held at Townsend Park Elementary School, drawing a capacity crowd of Dollarway School District patrons and supporters, state and local politicians, school officials and students. The banquet was also a surprise birthday celebration for the woman responsible for donating the building which will house the center and bear her name. Wanda Bateman was brought to tears by the acknowledgment of her ongoing efforts on behalf of the young people in the Dollarway area and the Pine Bluff community in general. The theme for the event was “Love Me Tender” — homage to Bateman’s favorite entertainer, Elvis Presley.

During the evening, special presentations were offered to Bateman by the students and others, including the Dollarway Middle School Steppers, who received a standing ovation from their audience.

A PowerPoint presentation detailed plans for the Wanda Bateman Youth Center (WBYC), after which Dink Webb made use of his considerable expertise as an auctioneer to raise money for the center — very successfully, as it turned out — by offering a table full of elaborately decorated cakes and pies created for the occasion by members of the community. Later, the audience was treated to a bountiful buffet, prepared by James and Melissa Rice of Altheimer.

On a tour of the new center earlier in the week, founder and operator, Deborah Strickland Allen, said the positive responses from the community have been overwhelming and that “God is surely working through Wanda Bateman.” Allen is employed by Bateman and is also a volunteer with Dollarway Middle School. She knows first-hand how much a youth center is needed.

“I’m around the kids all the time and in spite of what people may think, they are good kids. They just have nothing to do and nowhere to go. Most of the youth centers close at 5 or 6 p.m. and are not open on Saturdays and Sundays. The goal of the Wanda Bateman Youth Center is to be open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.,” Allen said.

During the tour, Allen explained how everything got started.

“I found out Ms. Bateman owned the building and I’d been waiting for a place like this to open a youth center. She simply handed me the keys to the building — no strings attached,” Allen said.

Bateman and L.E. Thompson are the owners the building, which had been standing empty for some time. They commented on the generosity of the Pine Bluff community as word-of-mouth has spread about the new center.

“People really want to help,” Bateman said, “and they realize that we have to help these kids when they’re young. People are calling and begging to be able to do something.”

Thompson added, “They know that they can either get a center like this or build more jails — they’ve chosen this center.”

The large building, complete with enough room for a gymnasium, stage, kitchen, library and activity room, along with offices for the all-volunteer staff, has been undergoing some changes with more to come, Allen said, commenting that she must begin with first-things-first by thanking Christopher Stepps and the brothers of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, who stepped up — with brooms and mops in hand — to tackle many of the initial clean-up jobs.

Allen said she’d been happily deluged with donations of both material items and services to get the center up-and-running.

As a result of the community’s generosity, she said, the still mostly-empty rooms will fill quickly with furniture and other items, including new computers. Because one of the rooms in the center is large enough and equipped with a “stage,” Allen said, there will also be talent shows and other productions. The Wanda Bateman Steppers and Hip-Hop Clinic, for kids 6 to 17, will be taught on a volunteer basis by coaches from Dollarway Middle School.

Services at the center will range from a beauty/barber shop manned by volunteers from a local salon, to after-school tutoring sessions conducted by Dollarway Middle School volunteers. Allen also pointed out the kitchen area of the center, explaining that while no full meals will be served, certain food items and snacks will always be available for the kids. There will be everything, Allen said, to engage young people from the age of 8 to 17 during after-school hours and weekends, including mentoring, sports, peer counseling, life skills and community projects.

“Those teachers at Dollarway Middle School deserve an award,” Allen said. “They always go above and beyond the call of duty to help their students and the parents. They are volunteering their time for this center and I appreciate them so much.”

Donations, Allen said, also include gifts of cash to help maintain the center, which will be operated solely through donations and grants. The Bateman Center has already received at least one substantial cash donation. David Steinmetz is district manager of Waste Management at Pine Bluff. He said his company is striving to be a good community partner.

“I took this idea to my corporate offices and they’ve agreed to a donation of $10,000,” Steinmetz said. “We think this is a worthwhile effort.”

Community leaders, volunteers and parents will always be welcome, Allen said, adding that political leaders, educators, company owners and managers, military personnel and veterans, along with self-employed business owners are invited to participate to “educate and encourage our youth into a positive direction during this vital time of personal discovery.”

Enrollment is by application, Allen said, at no charge to the students. The students who attend the center will participate in the various activities on a rotating basis according to their age group.

Steinmetz said the 10 volunteer staff on hand each day will bring “order to chaos.”

Bateman was all smiles as she realized that the center was to be the first building to bear her name.

“I am so happy. And Big Bill (Thompson) said that it was great, especially because I’m still alive!” she said, laughing, referring to the more traditional practice of naming a building or spot of ground after someone has died.

Steinmetz is president of the board of directors of the Wanda Bateman Youth Center and Thompson will serve as vice president. George Stepps will be the center’s treasurer; Linda Taylor, project advisor; Robert Morehead, legal advisor; Valee Phillips, executive secretary; and Charlie Strickland, construction/building director. Other board members are Allen, Mike Maxie and Jason Engler.

Details: Call Allen at 550-0477.