KALAMAZOO (WKZO-AM) — It’s a special time for Family and Children Services in Kalamazoo.
The venerable 113-year-old agency fixes and repairs families in a nine-county region in southwest Michigan. They’re now dedicating the largest building and expansion project in the organization’s long history.
The board of the non-profit has raised and spent $5.1 million on their campus on Kalamazoo’s east side, providing it with the variety of facilities required to carry out their complicated task.
Former Director Rosemary Gardiner said, in order to rebuild families and keep kids with their parents and out of foster care, they have to be able to address a lot of different issues.
“They now offer 30 services and programs that serve over 7,000 people over the nine county region but primarily those in Kalamazoo and Calhoun counties,” Gardiner said.
They need to be versatile to address the different needs and problems of low-income and underserved families that tear them apart. The new facilities are better designed to provide services and enhance their effectiveness by creating homelike settings and more opportunities for positive social interaction.
They plan to snip the ribbon and give tours between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. Thursday at the expanded facilities on Lake Street.
