Starting on May 11, the second annual Americorps week will kick off, with its host the Belle Center leading the way.
The week is put on by the Belle Center and Americorps looking to educate families of the West side and rest of Buffalo, with this year focusing on healthy homes and healthy kids.
“This year is much bigger than last year,” said Pam James, program coordinator at the Belle Center. “This year’s focus is health and community. Our slogan is healthy home, healthy kids Buffalo. We want to make families aware of what is happening around them.”
For the families interested in attending Americorps week and looking to come out to the educational programs, there is no charge or fee needed to attend. Along with that, no sign up is necessary to attend the week. All are welcome, even those who do not live on the West side or in the city of Buffalo.
“Americorps week is not just for those who attend and take part in the Belle Center,” James said. “It is for any one in Buffalo or any one in Western New York. Who ever wants to come is welcome. The more the better.”
With this years main focus on healthy homes and healthy kids, the Belle Center and Americorps had put together a week of events teaching families about how to live a safer and healthier life style.
Events that will be offered during the week include a job fail, street clean up, lead/carbon monoxide detectors, aids testing a bike marathon and many more. These events and activities will teach families a much healthier and safer life style, making this community a better place to live in, according to Jack Norton, program development coordinator at the Belle Center.
“These programs and events we have set up to teach these families and kids will make for a better home to live in,” Norton said. “Erie County Health Department workers will be going door-to-door around the center to give awareness for healthy homes.”
The week according to James and Norton is a hope to make families aware of health and safety issues and to try and improve life styles by making. But more importantly to families on the West Side.
“The life styles on the West side are not you typical good ones,” James said. “You look and people do not know what a smoke detector is, or if they have aids or not or even have a job. This week is a week that should and we hope will improve not only the reputation of the West side but hopefully change the people on the West side as well.”
The event runs all week long till Saturday, May 16. Norton, James and the rest of the Belle Center are anticipating between 400-600 people, ranging from children to adults.
With all these anticipated to attend the event,
Norton said that any help and volunteers that they can get would be greatly appreciated.
“It is very hard to handle this many people with only the staff from the center. Any help we can get would be greatly appreciated,” Norton said. “Come out and help change the way people live.”
Volunteers can sign up and choose when and what they would like to help with at http://www.americorps.gov.
ON THE SIDE...
Belle Center fights neighborhood reputation to offer services
By Zack Jewett, Ashley Johnson and Chris Haymes
With the well-equipped facilities and the many helpful programs the Belle Center offers, it’s a marvel why it’s not a more popular establishment in Buffalo’s lower West Side.
The Belle Center offers many programs that target all age groups of any Western New York community. The Belle Center helps kids after school with their studies and even offers leadership programs to youths, teaching them how to become better leaders at their schools and the communities they live in. They also counsel parents through tough times with their children or their own lives. The center can also set them up with a pantry during hard times and income is low. The center also caters to senior citizens, helping them stay active, offering various workshops and activities that they can sign up for.
The Belle Center offers a variety of services to keep the communities healthy and safe. It offers anything from AIDS testing and counseling services as well as educating adults with skills to achieve a higher standard of living and helps them to go back to school and earn their general education diplomas.
With all the programs and services the Belle Center offers, officials there still believe there is a lack of knowledge of what the center really is and participation from the community with the Belle Center. Some volunteers believe it’s the after-effects of the way it use to be.
“There use to be that fear of the area,” said Pamela Johnson AmeriCorps program director.
Publicized attacks in front of, and around a center has effects on the center’s reputation, as well as discouraged community members from taking advantage of its useful and rewarding services.
“When I first started here you would see people right out front doing drugs. You would walk in and smell it. Now that’s gone,” Johnson said.
Johnson believes the many initiatives that Mayor Byron Brown and the Buffalo City Council have passed have definitely had a great impact on the safety of the Belle Center and all its surrounding communities.
“It helped when the mayor put a camera out on the light pole right in front of us. Even though there isn’t really somebody monitoring it, the fact that it’s there has really helped,” Jack Norton said.
He describes one of 26 cameras newly place in and around the premises of the Belle Center with the funding from the city. With the safety measures stepped up, the people at the Belle Center hope it won’t be long before everybody knows about the center and all of its services.
The lack of knowledge about the center has also hindered the center’s ability to draw in community members.
“There is still a lot of people in the community that still don’t know what the Belle Center is,” said Norton.
The center has heard of many stories where people will go out of their way to get help and services that they could have received from the Belle Center. With a little more information about what the center does and the services they offer, they believe that the center gains a better reputation and more participation from the community.
Another factor the Belle Center has run into is the fact that the weather and transportation play a huge role in its members getting to the center. Buffalo being one of the more income-challenged cities, makes it hard for some community members to get to the center.
“Mobility of the seniors and whether they can get out here, or if it easier to just stay in, is a big thing,” Norton said.
With so many programs and services the Belle Center continually hopes to educate communities. It hopes to gain the reputation and respect of its residents and help make each of their communities a wiser, safer, healthier place to live.