BELCHERTOWN — Nearly three years after the Select Board voted to demolish the Family Center building, the Family Center Committee has proposed occupying the prior American Legion space to hold programs servicing up to 100 children and adults.
The Belchertown Family Center is a nonprofit organization that runs programs for children between ages 0-5. The town-based center began in 1998 when a group of parents and caregivers started a once-a-week play group in the old town hall. The Family Center moved several times as it outgrew its space and added more playgroups, music programs, clothing swaps, car seat safety checks and a community closet.
People need social opportunities. People need financial support provided to the community. There’s a lot of good here”
Whitney Jorns-Kuhnlenz, Select board Member
“We were serving over 100 kids in a week. There are only 64 kids in the public preschool program because we don’t have any more space than that,” Belchertown Family Center founding member Beth-Ann Jacobs Goff said. “We kind of looked at it as mutually helpful for us to have this going on because there were not (enough) preschool spaces.”
The committee came before the Select Board at their last meeting of the year to introduce a phased approach to resuming consistent playgroups and reopening the community closet. However, Select Board members postponed their vote until Town Manager Steve Williams learned more about the use of the space.
“We do have a lot of programming space and that space is always available,” Williams said. “Dedicated space is a little bit more complicated and we run into competing interests.”
No place to call home
In 2023, the group lost its space at 51 State St. when the town could not afford a half million renovation on the building’s roof. Since the Family Center building closed, the group has held playgroups sporadically in church basements. Clothing swaps, music programs and free swimming events continue to take place, but only when space is available.
“Right now, we can’t promise anything,” Belchertown Family Center Committee member Jennifer Whitehead said.
However, many of the large toy items — like play kitchens and water tables — are too large to continuously lug in and out of rented spaces. Without the proper equipment, most children play or complete arts and crafts on the floor.
“We realize we cannot replace what we had at the Family Center (building). We’re not asking for that,” Belchertown Family Center Committee Chair Natasha Martin said. “We’re asking for one room where we can leave a table that’s sized appropriately for children, a play kitchen and maybe a couple of bins of toys set up that will allow us to plan programming that’s adequate for children in town.”
If given the former American Legion space, the Belchertown Family Center would start by hosting playgroups twice a month on weekends, then add two playgroups on weekdays. The proposal also says the community closet will reopen out of a closet in the Recreation Department, so parents can pick up diapers, toys, books and big gear like high chairs at no extra charge.
““It is a need,” Select Board Member Whitney Jorns-Kuhnlenz said. “People need social opportunities, people need financial support provided to the community. There’s a lot of good here.”
Just as with the 51 State St. location, the Family Center would share the space with other recreational and extracurricular organizations, Whitehead said. She adds that the Family Center’s new space costs nothing for the town: the space’s operational costs are already in the budget, the Collaborative for Educational Services funds playgroups through grants and volunteers run the committee.
“If they (the Collaborative) then fell underneath our umbrella, that would be bringing some money into our community that would provide services and support for families and young children but not cost our taxpayers anything,” Whitehead said.
Competing interests in limited space
However, municipal leaders questioned whether the former American Legion was appropriate for the Family Center programming. Recreation Department Director Kyle Thibeault told Whitehead a square dancing, scouts and a couple other groups use the space in the evenings, but Williams wanted to double check.
The room sits next to the office of Charly Roque, Belchertown’s veteran’s agent. The Select Board decided to move Roque into the Senior Center to improve access to veterans services. Williams says it’s benefited her client list and even helped it grow.
“There’s a lot of privacy that goes on with veterans,” Select Board member Jonathan Ritter said. “They come in with PTSD. They come in with funeral arrangements. With kids running around that space, it’s not going to be good for our veteran’s agent.”
Whitehead said the town initially told the Family Center Committee that their replacement space would be a back room in the Recreation Department and an adjacent outdoor space. However, the committee had issues with securing the space, Martin said.
The town needs to think creatively about using community space, Board Member Jennifer Turner said. For instance, the Senior Center has a space for a thrift store open three days a week, and the veterans department has their own community cupboard. The Family Center’s community closet could share this space.
“When we talk about community spaces within our town buildings, we have to consider everything on the table and how we can be equable between all the groups in the community that may or not may need space,” Turner said.