Spring 2009 News
The LC Youth Center is still searching for a building to call home.  Organizers spoke with several local halls and temporarty rental sites to run camps in this summer and were not offered any space with affordable rent.  Director Gayla Pinkney says, "Most places didn't know what to charge for a whole week - but they kept saying that normally they charge $500 for a weekend event.  That was way out of our budget." 

Organizers say they felt that the temporary sites were not interested in giving up space for a week for the non-profit summer camps.  A permanent location is the goal of the group, but operating free and low cost community programs leaves little in the budget for rental costs.  "We would like all our local donations to be able to go towards our youth - events, school supplies, snacks, educational and recreational resources.  Without a major sponsor, government support, or donated building space, these  programs just aren't possible.  When you are paying $6000 to $12,000 a year in rent that doesn't leave a lot left over to actually run the programs that are needed" says Pinkney. 

In over two years of operating programs, the group has provided emergency drop in care for older elementary kids on school closings - they have mentored local youth - provided fun, educational and recreational summer camps - given LCHS students a fun and rewarding place to work on community service hours - provided guidance regarding colleges, financial aid and careers - offered resources and information to parents regarding colleges, public assistance programs, day care referrals, pediatric doctors and dentists and more - provided a safe, activity filled, age-appropriate location for youth parties and events.  

According to Youth Activities, Inc. estimates, in 2007-2008 they had a larger number of participants with a larger range of ages and interests than any other youth organization in the county.  They were working with a small group of teen boys to redesign the center to accommodate a coin-op video game room when the center had to be closed due to no heating.  This game room would have brought even more youth in to the center. 

If you have an empty building or some unused space you can donate to the youth center, you can contact organizers at, 304-439-4433, or email them at, info@youthactivitiesinc.org.


Winter 2009 News
Youth Activities, Inc., the non-profit organization which operates the youth center in Lewis County, was forced to close the doors of the leased facility in October of 2008.

Concerns with heating and structual issues with the building were chronic.  Organizers say they put thousands of dollars in to making repairs and getting the building in a usable condition after it sat empty for over five years. 

"We knew going in that the landlords were absolutely not interested in making any repairs to their property, so when the second of two HVAC units went down, we had no choice but to close the doors" explains organization founder, Gayla Pinkney.

IRS regulations maintain that a non-profit organizaton can not add value to property they do not own.  Replacing HVAC units would certainly increase the value of the property.  These IRS regulations also kept the group from renovating the building and adding things like a snack bar and video game room as they had hoped.

Board members say they have been searching for property for over a year because of the concerns with the building.  Because of programs for kids under age 12, there are many state legislative rules and health & safety codes that must be met.  Finding a facility to rent that meets all the needs of the youth center has been impossible.

Lack of funding is another road block in moving to a new site.  Although there is funding through the USDA for building a facility, without financial support from the city or county or major business sponsor, the organization can not meet the requirements for USDA help. Mrs. Pinkney states, "our programs are not supposed to produce an income from the kids - we are a social service organization and should be supported by our local government to provide the vital programs we have been offering.  Our programs can help our city, they can help our county, they can help our schools, they can help our businesses - we would love for any of those entities to step up and support us."

Organizers are asking for the help of the community to locate a building for the youth center or for businesses and individuals to sponsor the center. 

"If we had a combination of 60 people, churches and businesses donate $25-$50 a month in sponsorhip we could host programs that would be an amazing asset to our community," says Pinkney. 

Some of the programs the youth center offered were:  after school home work help, teen events and dances, movie nights, party rentals, financial aid application help, college advice, career advice, summer enrichment camps, snow day hang-out and lunch program, reading quest, fitness safari and more. 

Organizers are looking for sponsors and volunteers.