Lisa Bass
Contributing writer
On March 25, 2015, a tragedy occurred in Pulaski County. Saturday, Jan. 20 the Pulaski Community Youth Center opened with a ribbon cutting and dedication to the life and legacy of Noah Thomas.
“Pulaski County is unique and made up of many tight-knit communities surrounded with friends, family and neighbors who truly embraced this dream into a reality. In 2015, we all suffered a great loss with the death of Noah Thomas. We chose to reflect on his life, offer a place of healing and a promise of a better life,” Tina Martin, PCYC manager, said to the crowd.
Martin publicly thanked supporters, especially Phoenix Packaging for seeing the good in our community.
Carol Tapias, president of Phoenix Packaging, encouraged applause for the monumental task of opening the PCYC. Tapias arrived to Pulaski County from the South American country of Columbia in 2013.
He and his family were immediately embraced and helped in many ways to adapt to new surroundings. The death of Noah Thomas affected the Tapia family greatly because his son was Noah’s classmate.
Tapias began to wonder how best he could help the community. He expressed his pride in the PCYC and how people in this community were thinking of others.
“This PCYC is just a seed. We need lots of water to grow the PCYC into the center of gravity for this county,” Tapias said.
The mission of PCYC is to inspire and empower the youth.
The Pulaski County Youth Center is dedicated in memory of Noah Thomas.
“The youngest of children are best taken care of by the government and this is why PCYC is focused on teenagers; to give them an extra home, a happy place and to learn that anything is possible,” Tapias said.
Messages on the interior PCYC wall and the “inspire” buttons worn by all PCYC volunteers highlighted that mission.
The PCYCs hours of operation will be weekdays from 3:30-7:30 p.m. An After school Program will operate throughout the school year and would require registration.
“Unwind Time” will be offered in the gym afterschool. Individualized sessions will be available for homework help from Radford University students, computer lab time, arts and crafts.
Recreation will be available both indoors and outdoors. Specialty programming will be provided from Robotics STEM by the PC Botix Mechanix First Lego League Team and Central Fine Arts Academy, Community in School and the Pulaski Grow Produce with a Purpose.
A fresh and healthy snack and dinner meal will be served after each school day with no cost.
PCYC hopes to offer more services for at-risk youth, character development, life skills, cultural enrichment, health and well-being activities as well as community specific enrichment.
A partnership with community resources with PCYC are being established and was evident by the display tables on Saturday: Pulaski County Library, the Virginia Cooperative Extension, the Central Fine Arts Academy, the New River District of Boy Scouts, Lewis Gale physicians, a martial arts business and several churches.
Located in the old Riverlawn Elementary School in Fairlawn off Riverlawn Court, the PCYC had an extensive remodel.
The main school building was built in 1949 with additions constructed in the 1950s. After constructing a new state of the art school in 2009 off Viscoe Road, the old building was left vacant.
Only the old gym was used by the Pulaski County Recreation Department and the New River Community College for basketball.
“The gym was in great condition but the rest of the building was horrible. There had been vandalism. There was twelve feet of water in the basement,” Tapias said to visitors of the PCYC open house.
PCYC does have certain building areas closed due to the need for roof, electrical and other safety renovations before it can be fully occupied.
For now, the spaces around the gym, lockers and cafeteria are well painted and decorated to invite middle and high schoolers to a computer lab, a robotics lab, and very nice recreation room featuring billiards, ping-pong, video game system and comfortable seating.
Pulaski Board of Supervisors member Joseph Guthrie was present to tour the PCYC on Saturday.
“This was a daunting challenge to utilize this building as youth center. Phoenix Packaging had a great vision. I am very enthusiastic for our county,” he said.
Guthrie explained how the building reverted to county property in2009 and then transferred to the Industrial Development Authority who is leasing the building to PCYC. Guthrie is excited about the cooperation between PCYC and students from the Landscape Architecture Program at Virginia Tech.
They developed plans for landscaping around PCYC, which will be incorporated this spring along with donation of materials. Guthrie also gave hints of county plans to make PCYC a trailhead for a new trail to extend through the Smith Farm, to the New River, parallel to Bissett Park and to the Memorial Bridge.
To quote Lao Tzu, “To see things in the seed, that is genius.”
This PCYC “seed” will certainly become a blessing to Pulaski County. For more information, visit www.pcyuothcenter.org.
