More than 50 kids who rely on afterschool programming at one Clifton Park community center will have to go elsewhere for the time being after a car drove through it Sunday. But there's been an outpouring of local support to get the center reopened.
CAPTAIN Community Human Services’ 70 employees and 400 volunteers provide a wide range of support for families and individuals throughout the Capital Region, particularly in Saratoga, Warren, Washington, Fulton, and Montgomery counties.
Scott DeMarco has been serving as the organization’s executive director since the start of the year, and on Sunday he got a rather concerning call from the manager of Cheryl's Lodge, a community center operated by CAPTAIN.
“I was actually up in Saratoga with my daughter for her 16th birthday when I got the call. And she said ‘Scott are you busy, we’ve got a thing to take care of,’ and a car had crashed through Cheryl’s Lodge,” said DeMarco.
Police say the crash, which they are calling an accident, caused no major injuries.
Cheryl’s Lodge sits within a manufactured housing community and hosts regular meetings for all sorts of local organizations.
It is also where dozens of students from the Shenendehowa Central School District go for afterschool programming. But, until the car-sized hole in the wall is patched, they’ll have to look elsewhere.
“So we immediately reached out to Shenendehowa and they’ve been wonderful to work with trying to find alternate arrangements for the kids. We have about 55 kids that come to our program after school for homework help, we have academic enrichment, fun activities for them to do, and the kids are here from 2:30 to 6 o’clock at night,” said DeMarco.
DeMarco adds that about half of the program’s students live within walking distance of the lodge.
“It’s a real pain. It’s people that can’t miss their jobs. Maybe they can’t work from home. Kids walk to our location during the day, on the weekends to play. They get dropped off from school here then they walk back to their house. Then, there’s people from outside the community that get dropped off from the school busses and then get picked up by their parents. These are going to be a couple of difficult weeks I think,” said DeMarco.
To make matters worse, Shenendehowa’s spring break starts this Friday.
One parent who’s going to have to adjust is Stephanie Breton.
“I love the extra hour of freedom but I do appreciate the extra help that they get here because they bring home homework assignments that I know nothing about. The math? I’m clueless. So, knowing that there’s someone here that can help them and then when they get home, they can just destress and school work is done, they can relax, go play, do whatever they want and I can start dinner without having to do a homework assignment at the same time. So, it’s convenience but it is a community. We know everybody here; they all know my kids. They’re here every day, it’s a part of their daily routine,” said Breton.
Then there’s her son, fifth grader Michael Callahan.
“Yes, I always do my homework here. I will stay an extra 30-40 minutes just to get as much possible done,” said Callahan.
DeMarco estimates the lodge could be closed for upwards of two weeks.
Callahan says he’ll miss friends and a quiet space to do his homework.
“Well, it’s really sad to not have my friends for two weeks because we’re really close and we love talking to each other and there’s a lot that happens in our lives in two weeks so we might not be able to connect as much as before,” said Callahan.
Since the accident, DeMarco says the community has rallied behind CAPTAIN CHS, though they’re still looking for viable locations to temporarily move the lodge’s afterschool programming.
“People are stepping up, people are reaching out. We have the contractor who came to board up the place yesterday just to stabilize the place so the roof didn’t collapse and put up the boards to secure the building. He actually went through our program when he was in high school and elementary school. It was really heartwarming to see him come over and I told him, ‘send me a bill, we’ll take care of you,’ and he said ‘there’s going to be no bill, you guys took care of me and there’ll be no bill.’ Of course, we’re going to get him paid but if he wants to donate it back to CAPTAIN—people are just helping us all over the place,” said DeMarco.
