The addition will see the current location double in size, and expand to nine classrooms, giving them the capability of serving more than 200 children daily, said CEO William Dayton.

The construction will also include a storage area, a garage for Firetree’s vehicles, as well as a pavilion and expanded playground.

“With this expansion, we will be able to service over 200 children a day by increasing our capacity and the space that we have with nine classrooms for kids aged 3 all the way up to 12,” said CEO William Dayton, noting that waiting lists for spots at the center often run much longer than current capacity allows for.

“Over the past several years, we’ve seen a loss of a lot of good facilities serving our youth and we are unable to service all the children that we would like to service, and that we are getting phase one started and completed as soon as possible,” he said.

The new building will see security upgrades, allowing greater community service options where children’s functions are currently housed.

“As a nonprofit community center, I and the board believes, that we are also here to do more, and this expansion allows us to move the children into the nice, secure wing, and then open up this side of the building to offer the community other community-related activities and events that I think will help encompass and bring back that that history and that past that I think the community has been looking for, and be able to provide those activities partnering with organizations,” Dayton said.

“I’m very excited to be able to offer the rest of the community, adults, older teenagers and the senior citizens, a space to be able to hold different activities,” he said.

Phase two of the project will see an overhaul of the recreation area with the goal of providing a safe space for teenagers from 13 to 17-year-olds, as well as community events and programs for adults and senior citizens.

“It has been the best 10 years of my life in watching something this positive grow in all manner to serve the people in this community,” Firetree Board of Directors President John Brunette said, thanking a number of locals sponsors who helped make the project possible including the Lycoming County Commissioners, The Williamsport/Lycoming County Chamber of Commerce and Jason McCahan, director of major and planned gifts for First Community Foundation Partnership.

Firetree Board of Directors President John Brunette

“We are proud to support the initiative through a $45,000 grant from the Lycoming Economic Development Foundation Fund,” McCahan said.

“This project empowers parents and guardians to go to work with peace of mind, knowing their children are safe, supported and learning here at Firetree,” he said.

“We sometimes think of this as a daycare center, but we have to get back to that community aspect,” County Commissioner Mark Mussina said.

“It’s more than a safe place for the kids, so parents can work, and parents can be productive members of society that help our economy grow, and to the other programs, whether it’s seniors or whether it’s teens, it’s so needed,” he said.

“Its about community,” Lycoming County Commissioner Scott Metzger said.

Firetree Place CEO William Dayton

“You’re able to revive that. You’re able to bring it back to life. And it’s so needed in our community,” he said.

“For the kids, for the seniors, it’s a safe place to go. The childcare issue has been a huge issue, not just here, but nationally,” he said, echoing previous comments on the impact of the center on adults returning to work.

Metzger also lauded the center for their focus on providing for teenagers.

“My passion has always been kids, whether it’s coaching Little League, coaching T-ball or having six kids,” State Rep. Jamie Flick, R-South Williamsport, said, who sits on the Children and Youth and Human Services committees.

Flick was also named by Gov. Josh Shapiro, as the only state representative to serve on the Opioid Misuse and Addiction Abatement trust, which helps to provide funds to organizations that help with mental health and drug alcohol addiction.

“That’s this organization. It’s not just teaching kids how to read and have recreation, that all helps with the mental health of these kids, but they need outlets,” Flick said.

“There’s just no perfect path to get every kid. But we can do more from the state level, county level, federal level,” he said.

“When we deal with kids through children and youth and human services, we look into the souls of the eyes of these kids. It’s hard work, and such a large part of that is Firetree,” he said, promising to work on securing funding for phase two of the project.

Williamsport/Lycoming County Chamber of Commerce President/CEO Jason Fink commended the organization for their broad range of services.

“As an organization, being able to make it multi-faceted, being able to provide the resources, not only for young children who need child care, but also for those teens, there is that need for extra recreational opportunities for them,” he said.

“And then for the seniors, I hate to say it, there are times where we as society, will forget about our seniors, and this will also be able to provide for them, as well,” Fink said.

“Before I took this position, I worked as a guest teacher with the Williamsport Area School District for three and a half years. So I see what you guys are doing here from a little bit of a different perspective,” said Elizabeth Vollman, Constituent Specialist to state Sen. Gene Yaw, R-Loyalsock.

“You could always tell, as a teacher, which kids attended Firetree Place, and what you’re doing here in the community is just phenomenal, and it really does make a difference,” she said.