Community Center to open in April

Last week I attended the Independence Kiwanis Club meeting. When I walked in, to my surprise, there was the Lions Club logo on the presentation screen. For a second, I thought I was at the wrong meeting! Tom Rayfield, a guest from the Belton Lions Club, was the Kiwanis Club speaker. Rayfield gave a presentation about the Lions Hiram Young Community Service Center’s project, The Hiram Young Health and Heritage Center.

The project is to renovate the Hiram Young School for use as a health services and workforce training facility. In particular, it will serve low-income and uninsured people with special emphasis on children. It is at 501 N. Dodgion, overlooking the historic Independence Square.

The Lions Hiram Young Community Service Center board is working toward preserving the building and honoring the work of Hiram Young. With the assistance of the Missouri Humanities Council, one room will be restored as a 1934 classroom. The building will also serve as a home for the Independence Lions Club and a multipurpose room with a kitchen for public gatherings and meetings

“This is a project that involves all of the community,” said Rayfield, president of the LHYCSC board of directors and vice-district governor for the Lions organization. The board is comprised of members from various Lions Clubs in a four-county area, along with community members and leaders. It is also sanctioned by Lions Club International, allowing for a $75,000 matching funds donation from its International Foundation.

The Lions Hiram Young Community Service Center has formed a partnership with health and community service providers including Truman Medical Center-Lakewood, the Women, Infants and Children Nutrition Program, KVC Behavioral Healthcare, the Missouri Humanities Council, and the Lions Eyeglass Recycling Center of Western Missouri.

The project’s cost is $1.2 million. Officials hope to open next April. Funding includes $50,000 in a Community Development Block Grant, $100,000 from Hall Family Foundation, $10,000 from W.T. Kemper Foundation and $9,000 from the Optimists.

In 2004, the Independence School District sold the property to the Lions Hiram Young Community Service Center for use as a health center. Part of the sale included the preservation of the Young School building and honoring the work of HiramYoung and his daughter Amada, whose tireless efforts over most of a century resulted in education for generations of African-Americans.

Young was born a slave in Tennessee in the early 1800s. He settled in Independence with his master and was a skilled wagon builder and carpenter. With money saved, he purchased his freedom for himself and his wife. After the Civil War, he built a school to educate African-American children.

The original school was torn down and rebuilt in 1934, located on Dodgion. During the segregation era, it was a school for African-American children. From 1950 through 1980, many may remember attending this school for special-education programs. Finally in 1980, the school became warehouse space.

The 12,500-square-foot building sits on approximately 6 acres. It is a masonry and concrete building with several classrooms. The hallways are about 10 feet wide, with 12-foot ceilings. The kitchen is adjacent to a 2,400-square-foot multi-purpose game.

Rayfield said emblems and logos from donating organizations or individuals would be proudly displayed.