I was very sad to read about the possible loss of The Center. I feel a connection to The Center because in the 1970's as a child, my grandmother's home was across the street from the Bethune-Douglass Center on Park Avenue and I would play with the kids there. It was part of my growing up. MY neighborhood. Just as it is a big part of the lives of many children today.
Flash forward several years and to the new location, The Center has come to mean different things to different people in the community. When I performed constituent services duties for Congressman Carney, I would occasionally hold office hours there. Actually taking the services into the community. We did that because we knew that The Center was a place where the community at large felt welcome being there without judgment.
I have gone to recognition meetings, Williamsport Area School District events, NAACP meetings, Martin Luther King events, and even dances at The Center. I have met some great people at The Center and this facility means so much to them and their children. This is their neighborhood. Maybe everything has not been run as it should?
Maybe there is a great plan that has not yet been released? But where is there a community center that they can go to and receive these same services? What will become of these children without a place like The Center to go to? This is certainly bad news for the community.
Rebecca Brocious
Williamsport
Submitted by Virtual Newsroom
