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| By G. Michael Dobbs Managing Editor OLD HILL An institution that has helped under-privileged children in inner city Springfield neighborhoods for 20 years is asking the public for help. Irene Blanchard, the executive director of Save Our Kids, is undertaking a major fund-raising campaign to repair the charity's 385 Eastern Ave. headquarters and youth center. Blanchard has dubbed the effort "The Save Our Kids Extreme Makeover," and is seeking $107,833 to replace the siding, gutters, downspouts, windows, and exterior and interior doors as well as install three new furnaces and repair the building's porches and steps. The building has been the home of the program for the past 10 years, Blanchard explained to Reminder Publications, who added that the owner had allowed them to use the building rent-free. Recently the group was able to purchase the building and now they want to make repairs that will make the center "a more efficient, secure, and cost-effective place to serve the children of the community," she said. They were able to buy the building through grants from the Western Massachusetts Food Bank and the Irene E. and George A. Davis Foundation and from a donation of stocks from a private donor. Save Our Children operates after-school programs, a computer lab and a nutrition program from the Eastern Avenue building and in four low-income housing complexes in the city. In 2004, it served 9,604 clients and served 17,856 meals. It started in 1985 as a food pantry and soup kitchen located in the basement of the Alden Baptist Church on State Street. By 1992, the food pantry operation moved to 168 Eastern Ave., and then moved again in 1994 to its present location when it incorporated as a non-profit agency. The agency's program targets inner city youth of all ages with programs that offer them alternatives to the streets, gangs and drugs. The program has many volunteers, not the least of which is Blanchard's husband, Bill. When asked if the need for the program is greater now than when it first started, Bill replied, "[the need] keeps growing all the time." The food program is clearly important, as there are neat piles of cases of food throughout the first floor of the building. Save Our Children has already received in kind-donations from Bay State Home Guard, Inc and Attorney David Carlson and is accepting a $3,000 donation from the Springfield Rotary Club, but much more funding is needed. Irene Blanchard is hoping that people and individuals can "adopt" a window, door and other parts of the building. To learn more about how to donate, contact Blanchard at 781-5437 or at 596-9962. |