CONWAY — Debbie Langston said the food bank that the Pine Street Community Development Center in Conway offers is “a godsend.”
Donna Wilchie, a counselor at Ida Burns Elementary School in Conway, said her daughter “very much” benefited from the H.O.P.E. preschool, another free program the nonprofit organization offers.
John Kelley, board president for the organization, said these programs and others offered are too much of a well-kept secret, and he wants to change that.
“A lot of things going on at Pine Street should already have been duly noted,” he said. “The awareness of it hasn’t been displayed the way it should.”
An event with the theme Revitalized — On the Move is planned for 6:30-8 p.m. Thursday, at the Greater Pleasant Branch Educational Complex, where the food bank and preschool are housed.
The evening will include hors d’oeuvres, as well as testimonials about each program, Kelley said.
Kelley, a financial planner, got involved with the nonprofit organization in 2009.
Although the Pine Street Community Development Center was established in 1998 and offered some tutoring, the first official program started in 2001, Kelley said.
It was the Back to School Backpack Program, which Leona Walton ran for years by herself, Kelley said. Gena and Tim Ester of Conway joined with Walton to expand the program, he added, and last year, 600 children received free backpacks and school supplies.
The nonprofit organization also sponsors a Boy Scout troop, started in 2007.
“What I’m hoping to do is, one, bring awareness about the issues that we have in the community — such as hunger and homelessness,” Kelley said, “and here are some of the things we’re doing to address some of the issues.”
He wants to add programs, such as providing financial education and establishing a scholarship fund.
He said another goal is to pursue “long-term funding,” whether from corporate sponsorships or foundations.
“Then you can increase the number of teachers at H.O.P.E preschool and the number of hours,” he said.
Helping Others Prepare to Excel, the free preschool known as H.O.P.E., opened in 2003. It operates from 8:30-11:30 a.m. three days a week for children ages 3 to 5.
He said the staff is composed of certified teachers, and volunteers, often grandparents, help serve snacks and assist the teachers.
About 60 children each year attend, Kelley said.
“There’s always a waiting list,” he added.
Donna Wilchie, a former elementary-school teacher and now a counselor, said she is impressed with the program.
Her daughter, Antwanette, who attended the preschool for three years, is now 6 and in kindergarten.
“It reminds me a lot of the school system,” Wilchie said. “Their open house is kind of like open house and conferences all rolled into one. They work with the kids and try to get them ready for kindergarten — even collaborated with the school system” to make sure they were in line with that curriculum, she added.
Kelley said the food bank started in 2004 and serves about 150 people the first Saturday of each month.
Debbie Langston of Conway is among those who benefit from the program.
Langston, who has degenerative disc disease, said she and her husband, who is retired and also has health problems, moved to Conway four years ago from Connecticut.
“There are times I can’t even walk,” she said. “I can’t pick up anything over 5 or 10 pounds.”
The men at the food pantry are “wonderful,” she said, and carry her food box to the car.
“Usually what I do is, if I can’t use something in the box, I pass it on to one of my neighbors.”
Langston said she and her husband volunteered at another food pantry in Conway until it closed.
The couple receive housing assistance and food stamps, she said.
“It’s been a real struggle,” Langston said. “When we first moved down here, before we got on housing assistance, we had to go from one food pantry to the next.
“Half of my husband’s check goes just for rent, even with housing assistance.”
Now Langston is able to make ends meet with the box she receives from the Pine Street Community Development Center.
“I tell a lot of people about it because it’s just wonderful,” she said.
Kelley said those are the stories he wants people to hear.
“We can’t get volunteers, funding and do more if no one even knows these programs exist,” he said.
That’s the point of the theme Revitalized — On the Move.
“Basically, in a nutshell, we’re trying to go from a mom-and-pop-type style to a full-blown, staffed organization.”