LIFT Youth Center Inc., a nonprofit organization that operates a free youth center for Catoosa County, Georgia, middle and high school students, is holding a grand opening event for the Claudia Nance Youth Center on Aug. 7 from 4-8 p.m.
The event includes opportunities to tour the facility - named for the center's main donor - and to learn about its programs and register before the start of the center's first semester of after-school programming on Aug. 9, coinciding with the Catoosa County Schools schedule.
The center hosted three activities a week this summer, and so far 136 kids have registered for the fall semester, Executive Director Tina Pinkston said.
The center's after-school drop-in hours are Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 3-6 p.m. and Wednesdays from 2:30-6 p.m.
During those times the center will offer programming focused on recreation, education, art, community and health.
"It's a welcoming place, and you can be who you are and you can make friends who are not going to judge you," said 15-year-old Macy Johnson, as to why she comes to the center. "We have fun activities and stuff, and it's just a nice community to be in."
All programs are free for participants, which is made possible through funds awarded by local foundations and by individual donations, Pinkston said.
Before the organization was established in 2018, Pinkston and her friend and fellow mom Chrissie Brown originally toyed with the idea of opening an art center. Then the school shooting happened in Parkland, Florida, and they started thinking of how they could help kids who might be dealing with mental health issues or feelings of isolation before they ended up in situations in which they put themselves or others in danger.
Pinkston and about four other founding board members reached out to other area service providers, all of which agreed that there was a big need for a youth center in Ringgold.
The area has a lot of church youth groups and recreational sports leagues, but not a lot of opportunities for kids who are not religious or athletic.
The "L" in "LIFT" stands for "loved as you are," emphasizing that the center is a judgment-free space, she said.
"In our beautiful Southern town, sometimes that can be hard to find," Pinkston said, adding that the center wants to provide resources in Ringgold for struggling kids who they previously would have had to travel to Chattanooga to find.
The center's entrance is filled with posters and information on every imaginable resource, which she hopes will help to normalize the need for help that everyone experiences at some point.
The center's other goals include inspiring (the "I" in the name) kids to seek out new experiences and founding (the "F") a community, by providing opportunities for kids to build friendships as well as to help their larger community through monthly service projects.
The "T" is for "trusted to make a difference," which is in reference to the idea that all kids have the chance to be a leader, she said.
Some of the older participants, including Macy, have used the center's summer programming as an opportunity to build their leadership skills.
"I was looking for a community where I could be myself and hang out with other people and help people that were younger than me," Macy said."I like helping them go through things that I went through in middle school, because middle school can be tough."
The center's core programming is focused on middle and high school students, but in the spring organizers plan to launch a program for fifth graders transitioning to middle school.
"For some kids, that transition from elementary to middle is so hard," Pinkston said. "That's where they start to go negative and they have a hard time recovering."
The Claudia Nance Rollins Youth Center is at 7197 Nashville St. in Ringgold and can be reached at 706-935-LIFT or at lift-ringgold.org.
Contact Emily Crisman at ecrisman@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6508.