“I grew up with people in my family that had disabilities, and so that’s kind of where my passion comes from, for opening a place like this,” Jones said recently.

“But I also wanted a place to have open to the public so they can come with their caregivers or family and everyone’s welcome,” she added.

The PA Connect Adaptive Activities Center (PA-CAAC) is located in the New Covenant United Church of Christ, 202 E. Third St. It is a ministry of the United Churches of Lycoming County (UCLC) and is in the space formerly used for UCLCs food pantry. It is open, for now on Wednesdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and is handicap accessible.

“I first discovered this space last year when I started going to church here, and I just loved how welcoming everyone was and how just like at home it felt. And then when I was getting a tour of the church, and I looked at this room, the wheels started spinning in my head. I’m like, I have an idea. I want to do this. I think this is going to be really great,” Jones said.

KAREN VIBERT-KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette Rebecca Levine, left, and Ember Shurer,,right, play pool at the PA-Connect Adaptive Activites center in Williamsport.

“The United churches have been so awesome through this whole process. They have been helping me with donations. Everyone’s always willing to help whenever I need it, and they’re also very welcoming, and it’s just a wonderful thing to have that in a community,” she added.

Jones, who has worked in the field for about ten years, in classrooms and as a caregiver, volunteers at the center on her day off.

Because of her experience, she saw that there was definitely a need for someplace like the center.

“When I worked as a caregiver, all of us noticed that there are times where there’s like, not very much to do, or places are closed, especially on holidays…Some places are open to the public, probably on certain days. So it’s kind of limited. So that is kind of part of what sparked my idea for this,” she said.

“The people in my family that had intellectual developmental disabilities, they also would have really benefited from this. I’m really doing it for them as well, because I know that they would have loved to be here if they could,” she said.

Although there have been places in the community for people who needed to work on things like being more independent, she explained, there wasn’t really anything that was just specifically for a room for the community, hanging out, doing different activities.

Although it just opened earlier this month, the response has been good, with attendance reaching about 20 people. And Jones is looking forward to expanding the activities offered.

“Starting in February, there’s gonna be different themed activities…like on February 18, there’s a Valentine’s Day party, everyone brings something, either food or craft or something to contribute. And then we’re gonna have different activities throughout the day, and then on other days, there’s a movie theme day, there is bring your own board game day, just different things like that to do,” she said. ”

“There’s just generally a place where people can feel like they belong and they have a space to do the activities they like to do,” she added.

Jones wants to apply for grants in order to expand the times in order to have dances or themed activities on Friday or Saturday, depending on interest. There is no definite timeframe when that will happen, but she definitely wants to increase the times when the activities center is open.

“I’m really excited for this to get going and for it to grow and see how many people come here. And I’m just really excited to see what’s going to happen, and hopefully soon we can have more days open,” Jones said.

For more information about the program email Jones at pa.connect.acc@gmail.com