Center focusing on meeting children's needs

Balls -- those used for dodge ball -- are near the top of Lisa Nichols' holiday wish list. They're not for her, they're for the children at Henry Fork Service Center.

Nichols is the executive director of HFSC, which opened an activity building this year for the children it serves in a traditionally low-income section of Rocky Mount.

"We now have gym space and stage space for our students, so dodge balls would be one of the Christmas presents," said Nichols.

HFSC opened more than 40 years ago. An extension of Global Ministries, a mission agency of the United Methodist Church, HFSC works to fill the needs of the mission, including education, nutrition and religious values.

The nonprofit offers a preschool and after-school program during the school year. It also offers summer sessions. Although HFSC targets and transports children who live along Doe Run Road and the surrounding area, it will accept children from throughout the county whose parents can provide transportation, said Nichols.

"It's getting to be pretty much first-come, first-served," she said.

Currently, the nonprofit has more than 90 children on the roster from pre-K through middle school. Nichols said regular attendance is around 70, with about 10 children in the morning and 60 for the after-school program.

The face of the children who use the center has changed in the past few years, said Nichols.

"Henry Fork has traditionally served a low-income white population," she said. "Now, it's one-third Hispanic, one-third black and one-third white."

The Hispanic children mostly speak Spanish, which has led Nichols to another holiday wish: a bilingual volunteer.

"This summer, we had about 23 students in our summer preschool class and realized that 15 of them were primarily Spanish-speaking," she said.

Nichols said the lead teacher took Spanish in high school and is trying to teach the Spanish-speaking children English while at the same time teaching the English-speaking students Spanish. It's created a learning activity for all the students.

"We're really giving them [Spanish-speaking students] a jump on what we think they're going to be faced with in school in two or three years in terms of the classes being all in English," said Nichols.

The HFSC spends a lot of time helping students with homework and encouraging them to read. Nichols said it's important that the children are able to perform in school at their given grade level and that they don't fall behind during the summer.

As a USDA summer feeding site, HFSC also provides meals to the children who are enrolled in the summer session.

"We kind of split the population and do the younger students in the morning and the older students in the afternoon," said Nichols.

She'd also like to feed the younger students lunch this summer before they leave in the afternoon. In the future, she'd like the center to be a year-round USDA feeding site so it can offer more than a snack to the children who come after school.

HFSC also operates a clothes closet. Clothing is donated by the community and is free to those in need. Currently, it's separated by men's, women's and children. Another category is being added: Boy Scout uniforms. Nichols said the center has worked with the local Boy Scout council to arrange the donation closet.

"When they outgrow their uniforms, they will be able to be used by people who can't afford a uniform," she said. "They're very important to being a Boy Scout, but they're also very expensive."

One of the core goals of HFSC is tied to its religious foundation: Christian education. During the week, instructors lead 15- to 20-minute sessions on Biblical stories. Nichols said it's heart-warming to see the children respond.

"My fifth-graders argue about who gets to read the Bible," she said.

Which leads to one last holiday wish: Bibles.

"We really need two to three sets of 10 Bibles, each of the same version," said Nichols. "We really don't care which version that it is. It will sure make sharing with our classes a lot easier."

To make a donation to the Henry Fork Service Center, mail checks to: P.O. Box 888, Rocky Mount, VA 24151. For more information or to volunteer, call 483-2819 or e-mail henryforkcenter@cs.com.