The well and septic systems are in, the building is being spruced up and volunteers lined up in preparation for the opening of a community center in the impoverished Blackmon Road community.
Organizers hope to start offering services to community residents by late summer or early fall.
"I've just been really excited about everything that's happening," said Donna McLaughlin, founder of the center known as "A Place for Hope," in honor of longtime Blackmon Road resident Hope Whitlock.
For decades, Blackmon Road has been a magnet for York County's poor. Many residents are squatters who live in crumbling shacks or old school buses with no indoor plumbing or electricity.
A number of individuals, churches and agencies over the years have tried to help the neighborhood, organizing cleanups and winter goods collections and distributing meals.
The community center will be housed in a 2,100-square-foot mobile office unit, located on a donated plot of land off Archer Road in the Blackmon Road community off S.C. 72 near Rock Hill. It will offer a variety of services, including tutoring, drug and alcohol counseling, as well as career counseling.
Up to now, most services, equipment and supplies for the center have been donated, McLaughlin said. This includes the septic tank donated by developer Warren Norman Co., the well system donated by Gary Williams of Rock Hill's Williams & Fudge, and the indoor and outdoor plumbing installed free of charge by Trinity Plumbing of Fort Mill.
This week, volunteers from the Baptist-run World Changers program have been re-installing an outdoor deck and fixing up the interior.
The last big project remaining is getting electricity hooked up, McLaughlin said.
Organizers also have a possible candidate to serve as manager of the center: a retired school principal with experience in nonprofit work.
"It would have to be someone with a strong personality," McLaughlin said of the person who would run the center day to day and help coordinate volunteers.
Meanwhile, the Catawba Regional Council of Governments, on York County's behalf, has been leading a study of the Blackmon Road neighborhood. Among the areas being examined: housing conditions, residents' education levels, social services needs and infrastructure needs such as water, sewer, and roads.
Members of the local government assistance organization updated York County Council members on the progress of the study during a council meeting Monday.
An estimated 81 people live in the community, said Paul Gettys, a Catawba Council of Governments senior planner. Of the 42 neighborhood dwellings, almost half are in a deteriorated state. Eleven dwellings were classified as dilapidated, although most of those were vacant, Gettys said.
Once the study is complete, officials will draw up a plan and cost estimates for how to meet the community's needs. The study is being paid for with a two-year, $20,000 state grant.
Contact Caroline Brustad at 329-4082 or cbrustad@heraldonline.com.
For information on the nonprofit "A Place for Hope" project, call Donna McLaughlin at (704) 506-1872 or visit www.aplaceforhope.net. Financial and nonperishable food donations are welcome.
"I've just been really excited about everything that's happening," said Donna McLaughlin, founder of the center known as "A Place for Hope," in honor of longtime Blackmon Road resident Hope Whitlock.
The community center will be housed in a 2,100-square-foot mobile office unit, located on a donated plot of land off Archer Road in the Blackmon Road community off S.C. 72 near Rock Hill. It will offer a variety of services, including tutoring, drug and alcohol counseling, as well as career counseling.
Up to now, most services, equipment and supplies for the center have been donated, McLaughlin said. This includes the septic tank donated by developer Warren Norman Co., the well system donated by Gary Williams of Rock Hill's Williams & Fudge, and the indoor and outdoor plumbing installed free of charge by Trinity Plumbing of Fort Mill.