NNB News

Photo by Zach Hall

By Marisa Barbosa

St. Petersburg-The James B. Sanderlin Neighborhood Center has been serving community members for almost 20 years.

At the Community Open House, on Dec. 9, visitors will have a chance to see performances, walk through and learn about ongoing and new programs. At the end, the Center will offer a dinner.

Visitors will receive a passport, tour around and get a stamp in each program they go to. At the end they can turn in the passport in order to get a meal ticket, according to Director Kim Ross.

Every December the Center organizes some kind of community activity, according to Executive Director Lounell Britt, who has worked at Sanderlin since 2001.

“We always have new things that we want to show we offer to the community,” Ross said.

For example, the center offers free assistance to file income tax and the Pinellas County Health Department is present to help those uninsured get help and treatments.

Funded by the Children’s Services Council of Pinellas along with eight other centers, Sanderlin is the only Community Center in the Midtown area. It has to serve at least 258 children a year. But other programs benefit the entire family.

From adult computer classes to sewing and “Renal Life Style,” by the Dialysis support group, programs are always being added according to the community’s need.

“Our mission is to be a place where people show their talents. We learn from people and they learn from us,” Ross said. The community open house is a day where the community share the ideas. “We are open to anything that will benefit the community.”

Other community associations use the space for meetings and classes, such as the Highland Oaks Neighborhood Association and the Domestic Violence classes. Many other groups meet there, such as the foster parents support group, bible studies and GED classes, where a teacher helps students work to improve their scores.

Every day starts quiet at the center, until 2 p.m., when kids get of school to attend the programs.

“They come here for karate classes, computer lab… Than they play football or dance,” Britt said. “We are open until 8 p.m. from Monday through Thursday. Then, on Friday, we are tired and close at noon.”

According to Ross, the center is open for people from every neighborhood.

“As long as they can get here we don’t care where they are coming from,” she said.

Britt and Ross told the story of a former student who was raised by her grandmother with the support from the Center.  Now she is going to college.

“We see kids that are going to high school and college coming back to visit,” Britt said.   ”We see that kind of turnover.”

James B. Sanderlin Neighborhood Family Center is located at 2335 22 Ave. S., St. Petersburg. The Community Open House starts at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 9.