Children who have been placed in the care of the Young Children's Home at Chaffee Crossing in Fort Smith will be getting a new activity center.
Wallace and Jama Fowler of Jonesboro have donated $400,000 to go toward the construction of a new activity center at the entrance of the Young Children's Home at 8800 Young Home Dr. Frank Woods, CEO and president of Free Will Baptist Family Ministries, said there is no place for the children who live in the home's four houses to go for indoor activities.
"So they either have to do everything outside, or in the house, and it complicates it so bad," Woods said. "This was in the original plans, and then we had to leave it off because of overrun on the cost of the project. ... The whole purpose is getting a place for the kids to have some indoor activities, during winter months especially."
A news release states the Young Children's Home serves up to 32 children at any one time. The new building will also provide office space needed for two case managers and an administrator as required by the Child Welfare Agency Review Board for Residential Child Care facilities.
Woods estimated the project will begin within the next two months. Construction will hopefully be complete by August or September.
The new activity center will be named the Curtis and Celia Massey Activity Center after Jama Fowler's parents.
"I'm an only child, and they have passed away, and ... our three sons also suggested it, said, 'We would love to see our grandparents' names somewhere,' so that's fine," Jama Fowler said. "That's what we decided to do."
The Fowlers have been successful business developers for many years, according to the news release. They operated as many as 83 Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants in the 1980s as the owner of Fowler Foods, and they were also involved in banking in the mid-’80s to early 2000s. Wallace Fowler served as chairman and CEO of Mercantile Bank and First Bank of Arkansas in Jonesboro, and most recently Liberty Bank. The Fowlers sold Liberty Bank to Centennial Bank in 2013.
"Wallace and Jama are known statewide for their generosity; giving to major projects such as the Fowler Center for the Performing Arts at Arkansas State University and the Fowler House at the University of Arkansas, as well as their involvement in the community of Jonesboro," the release states.
A reception was held to formally announce the Fowlers' gift at the Chaffee Crossing Media Center on Wednesday. Among those who spoke at the event were Woods, Bob Moody, executive administrator of Arkansas True Vision Children's Homes, and Lorie Robertson, marketing director at the Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority. The event also featured speeches from elected officials such as Sebastian County Judge David Hudson, Fort Smith Mayor Sandy Sanders and Greenwood Mayor Doug Kinslow.
After the reception, those present were invited to drive to the Young Children's Home to take part in the groundbreaking for the activity center. Guests were also allowed to take tours of the Young Children’s Home houses.