Canonsburg armory finds new life as youth center
During a prayer walk through Canonsburg two years ago, JR Gardner spotted a former National Guard armory.
Gardner, Canonsburg's ministry site director for Metro Pittsburgh Youth for Christ, saw that the West College Street building was for sale and said he felt a “calling from God.”
He learned the state was selling the property, and a bid was due in just nine days.
Youth for Christ, a South Park-based nonprofit that provides after-school programs, used an anonymous gift to buy the armory for about $212,000 in September 2013. After more than a year of renovations, it opened the Armory Youth Center with a New Year's Eve party for almost 100 youths.
“It was a lot of fun,” said Chris Thompson, Youth for Christ's executive director. “The gym is completely done,” and open gym sessions take place after school for students in grades 6 through 12.
The 18,000-square-foot armory was built in 1938.
Thompson said Youth for Christ wanted to provide Canonsburg youths with a safe and welcoming Christian environment. Canon-McMillan Middle School is across the street.
Canonsburg Mayor David Rhome said the center meets a need.
“Our children always cry that there's nothing to do. Now, there's something that fills that void and also opens a building that's been closed for several years,” Rhome said.
Thompson said renovations to the armory's bottom floor will include a kitchen, weight room, computer center, lounge area for social events and a middle school homework help program. The work could be completed by the end of this year.
“There has never been a youth center in Canonsburg,” Thompson said, although there is a Washington County Community Center, two blocks from the armory.
After buying the armory, Youth for Christ began a capital campaign to raise $750,000. Donations such as an anonymous $250,000 gift represent the biggest part of the campaign.
The organization held several events, including Canonsburg's Got Talent and an Armory Golf Scramble, to raise money.
“We estimated the total cost for the purchase and renovation to be $750,000,” Thompson said. So far, $517,628 has been raised.
April Giles, 14, of Canonsburg said she has attended the local community center and said it is small, without much for teens to do.
“I get bored, so the Armory Youth Center is a good idea and will be a great addition to our town,” she said.
Youth for Christ offers programs at nine sites across the region, including Downtown, Bethel Park, Moon and Peters.
Buzz Gardner, JR's father and director of the capital campaign, said the organization plans to offer programs such as a boot camp fitness class and ballroom dancing.
“We already have a number of volunteers ready to teach these kids how to take care of a household and other valuable life skills. All we need now is money,” he said.
Chasity Capasso is a freelance writer for Trib Total Media.
