Hopes and Visions for Harless Center

As the former Office Manager for the Presbytery of West Virginia, I first learned of the hopes and dreams of First Presbyterian Church for a faith-based housing project and improved Presbyterian Child Development Center when they presented their plans to purchase the old Central School property to the Presbytery for approval.

The Presbytery received regular updates as a group of dedicated individuals on the Westminster House Board (as the group was originally named) worked diligently and faithfully to bring their dreams to fruition.  There were many setbacks and disappointments along the road but the group never lost their faith and commitment to the dream. I often included the Board and congregation in my prayers because as a parent of two WVU alumni, I knew that their dream would make a significant contribution to the Morgantown and WVU community.

After moving to Morgantown in 2009, I became a member of First Presbyterian Church and as a member of the Session of the church have worked hand-in-hand with the group to bring this dream to reality.  The congregation has wholeheartedly supported the project from day one and celebrates with the Harless Center Board the progress that has been made.

The groundbreaking ceremony in September and our partnership with Central Place, LLC are milestones along the way but there is still much work to be done.

We need additional donors to join with us on the journey to providing faith-based housing and a safe place to learn and grow for students at West Virginia University beginning in Summer 2015.

Margaret Bolt, Clerk of Session

First Presbyterian Church, Morgantown

Site progress

The grass has grown AND the weather was favorable (one day) for the children from the Presbyterian Child Development Center to enjoy their new playground space.  However, They took more interest in checking at the heavy equipment and activity on the Harless Center at Central Place work site where construction is continuing.  We lift up prayers of thanksgiving for the teachers and staff at the daycare who care patiently for our children each week day.

Work continues on site despite the cold, snowy, weather.  We are grateful for the folks who braved the cold and snow, cold and sun, AND cold and rain over the last couple of weeks to begin preparing the site for the foundation.  We lift up our prayers of thanksgiving for their work, and ask God to look over them as the endure the winter weather.  We thank God for their skills and gifts of preparing the ground and soil for the foundation.

Spreading the message of Harless Center

On November 16^th, I traveled to Huntington, WV to attend a meeting of the Presbytery of West Virginia.  The Presbytery is the governing body of the Presbyterian Church and delegates from around the state of West Virginia gather four times a year to worship, do the business of the Presbytery, and share a lot of fellowship. 

At this particular meeting, churches from around the state were invited to bring a display illustrating a mission project that the church sponsors in and/or with their local community.  I was attending to share a display about Harless Center at Central Place.

As a result, I was able to spend time talking with plenty of persons who were interested and curious about our project.  Many had heard of it before due to our previous communications within the Presbytery, but some had not and most were not aware of recent events.

We shared the large display board that shows the artist’s rendering of the planned apartment complex along with the surrounding neighborhood.  This was large and colorful so it grabbed people’s interest immediately and made quite apparent what we are doing.  We shared our “At-A-Glance” handout that gives pertinent information in a one -page format.  In addition, we shared a handout that explained some reasons why a student would live at Central Place.  We had some favors remaining from our ground-breaking ceremony on Sept. 29^th that we handed out as well.

The comments from those who we talked to were overwhelmingly positive.  We were talking with parents and/or grandparents of future students, former students, or current students at WVU.  It was apparent that from a parental point of view, this is a very welcome and desirable project.  Some said, “I wish that this had been there when my daughter/son went to WVU, or “I’ll be sure to let my granddaughter/etc. know about this.”   The possibility of a positive peer culture that is built into an apartment complex offering community-building activities, faith exploration, building interfaith connections, etc. all resonated strongly with folks.   As a parent of a WVU graduate, I, too, experienced the sometimes rocky maturation process that newly independent students must navigate on the road to their college graduation.

So, it was a good day!  I enjoyed talking with folks about Harless Center.  We anticipate that by multiplying this type of event over time, many more persons will learn about and support Harless Center, whether through sending their students or by making donations to the project.

Linda Hagerty, Secretary Harless Center, Inc. Board of Directors

Moving forward one step at a time

On Thursday, November 21, 2013, First Presbyterian Church closed on the sale of the Central School property to Central Place, LLC.  This is a major milestone in the development of our project and our heartfelt gratitude goes out to all who were involved in getting us to this point.  Special thanks to Brian Gallagher of Steptoe & Johnson, Steve Shuman of Reeder & Shuman, and Glenn Adrian for all their assistance in making this day a reality!

Words and Images from Groundbreaking

Currently the board of directors of Harless Center at Central Place is engaged in a capital campaign to raise funds to support the programs of Harless Center, to furnish the program spaces of the center, and to repay debt incurred whiled developing the project over the last six years.  We are grateful for the lead gift made by Mr. James H. 'Buck' Harless to the project.  Mr. Harless also agreed to serve as the honorary campaign chair and was in attendance at the groundbreaking on Sunday, September 29.  John Fisher, Dean of the WVU College of Law spoke on behalf and in honor of Mr. Harless.  Here are Dean Fisher's remarks.

If a person is lucky, during their life they will be blessed by the friendship of a very special person who becomes very important in their life.  Buck Harless has not only been such a friend to me, he has also touched the lives of countless others in so many ways.

Dean Fisher speaking in honor of Mr. Harless

            Buck grew up during the great depression in a family of limited financial means, but full of concern  and compassion for others.  Through hard work, good judgment and a strength of character, he became a very successful businessman and enjoyed financial success.  What makes Buck different from many others who have enjoyed financial success is that he believes that with such success comes responsibilities.  He believes that he is a steward of what God has given him, and as a steward he has a duty to use his financial resources wisely.    We can all learn a lesson of stewardship from the way Buck has lived his life.

Mr. Harless

            Throughout his life, Buck has supported many deserving causes and helped countless individuals.  Among those things important to Buck are his relationship with his God; his concern for young people and his belief in, and support of, education.  Buck has supported education at every level.  As a community leader, he worked to pass bond levys for better facilities.  A number of years ago when the new high school did not have the funds to build the auditorium, Buck’sgift made it possible.   More recently when the new consolidated Mingo Central  did not have the money to build the football complex, Mr. Harless understood how being teammates in Athletics would help bring what had been five separate schools together into one new student body.  Thanks to Mr. Harless, Mingo Central has a football complex that many a small college would envy. 

            Higher education has no better friend that Buck Harless.  He has supported WVU and Marshall; Pikesville College in Kentucky; Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, Alabama; the Presbyterian Seminary in Louisville, and The United Negro College Fund.  At WVU, he has supported new facilities, created scholarships, endowed Professorships and Chairs.  He has given of his time and talents – he served as both Chair of the WVU Foundation and our University’s  Board of Advisors.  Education at all levels in West Virginia has had no better friend that Buck Harless.

            Related to Buck’s commitment to improving education is his concern for young people.  He has always realized the importance of providing young people a positive environment in which to learn and play.  Buck’s son Larry worried about the lack of things for children in Gilbert to do.  Following Larry’s death in 1995, Buck built a community center for Gilbert that has a gymnasium, indoor Olympic swimming pool, racquet ball courts, weight room, walking track, outdoor tennis courts, movie theaters, a cafeteria, and dance studio.   Today it houses a medical clinic staffed by doctors from the WVU School of Medicine that brings specialized care to southern West Virginia.  There is no finer such facility in our state than The Larry Joe Harless Community Center.

            Buck’s faith is very important to him.  This ground breaking ceremony today is to build the Harless Center  -- a place where college students attending WVU can live in an environment conducive to their religious beliefs.  It is, indeed, most appropriate that a place for young people to live with others who share similar goals and values while they pursue a higher education shall be named the Harless Center.

            Buck’s favorite poem is entitled the Bridge Builder.  It’s verses are mounted on the walls of The Larry Joe Harless Community Center on a bronze plaque. The poem tells of a man in the twilight of his life who comes to a dangerous river to cross.  The man starts to build a bridge across the river and as he works, he is asked by another why he is building the bridge because he will not pass that way again.  The Bridge Builder answers, it is not for him, but for the youth that will follow so that they can cross safely to the other side.  The poem is a wonderful story of love told in verse.  It is what he celebrates today with this ground breaking.  It is what The Harless Center will be.  Buck, on behalf of the youth that will pass this way in the future and who will find shelter in The Harless Center, I thank you.

Hopes for Harless Center

I've always liked to dream about what I would do if I won the lottery.  Lots of people do this and lots and lots of us have plans for when we win.  It’s fun to think about, and doesn't cost a thing to dream.  I love listening to someone describe what they would do, build a house, or travel to every continent.  Somebody has to win it sometime; so maybe it will be me.   It would help if I bought a ticket now and then, because I know this dream is never going to come true if I don’t.    Dreaming is fun to do, but making dreams happen is much harder.

Seven years ago a group of us sat around a table and started dreaming.  What would we do if we owned the Central school property?  What would we build on that space, how could we use it to make an impact on the community, how could it benefit the church, the daycare?  As you can imagine we had lots of ideas, big ideas, small ideas and lots and lots of crazy ideas and dreams.  We laughed at many, thought about a lot of them, and worked to make a plan.  The two things that we wanted were a playground for the child development center and a place for students to grow and explore their faith.  We talked to other people who got excited about our dream, AND we talked with others who said our dream was crazy and would never happen.  There were times when we thought our dream was so close, only to realize that what we dreamed of couldn't work as we thought, and we had to start all over again.  Yet our group kept working, kept praying, and kept the dream alive. We realized that the bend in the road was not the end of the road; it just led to new things.  

We aren't done working yet.  We still have money to raise, decisions to make, leases to be signed and more dreaming to do, but things are starting to happen.  It is exciting!  I can’t wait to see what happens in the next 18 months; it’s going to be amazing!

Sharon Portaro, Director of Presbyterian Child Development Center

Ex-Officio Member Harless Center Board of Directors

Playground site taking shape

We are excited to see the new space for the playground beginning to take shape on the former parking lot at First Presbyterian Church.  The lot has been demolished  the land has been graded and seeded, and the fence has been installed.  

In 2007 First Presbyterian Church, Morgantown became aware that the neighboring Central School property was going to be sold.   The church appointed a task force to discern the best course of action based on the impending sale, because the Presbyterian Child Development Center had leased space from the Board of Education on that property for its playground.  As the hope and vision of the task force grew, a non-profit board, formerly Westminster House now Harless Center, was formed and expanded the scope of the project to ensure not only a long term plan for the daycare playground, but also to bring faith based housing to the WVU community.    First Presbyterian Church purchased the Central School property in 2008 and has been working with financial institutions and developers to bring about this vision in a financially sustainable way.  

The board has persevered over the years to bring to fruition not only a financially sustainable project, but also a project that continues to bring forth the vision of student housing and a new playground for the daycare.  We are blessed to have found local developers who are developing and overseeing property management for the student housing, and local developers to serve as consultants to the project.  We are also excited to see a new, improved, playground for the daycare developed on church property.  We are raising money to ensure the first three years of programming are fully funded (staffing, furnishing, meals, etc), and so that we can complete the land developed for the playground.  

Playground equipment/toys and surfacing is included in the $3.5 million campaign goal.  Both the Harless Center Board and Presbyterian Child Development Council are working to raise the funds necessary to create a quality playground on the property of First Presbyterian Church, Morgantown.  

Words and images from the Groundbreaking

 

Harless Center at Central Place held their Groundbreaking and Dedication Ceremony on Sunday, September 29, 2013.  This week we are featuring the prayer of invocation led by Co-Pastors of First Presbyterian Church, Morgantown, Revs. John Sonnenday and Kristine Haig. Over the coming weeks look for more pictures and words from our speakers on the blog.   Thank you to Scott Lituchy for photographing the event.

INVOCATION 

by the Rev. Kristine Haig

God gives to all things the energy of life,

and calls us to lives of discipleship—

living with the vision of the Kingdom of God,

and being co-creators with God in bringing to life 

the promised new heaven and new earth.

This gathering is a celebration of our ongoing commitment  to serve God’s dream for this project.

So let us now turn our attention to the Holy One,whose dream has brought us here.     

Let us pray:

Ever-living One, God of Many Names,

you have led us to this project

and through all the twists and turns along the way,

to this sacred moment.

As these shovels full of earth are turned over,

may we give you thanks and praise

for all your gifts that made this day possible:

gifts of money and of time, gifts of creative vision, 

gifts of patience and stamina,

and of unfailing trust in you.

May this earth be for us a symbol of promises fulfilled,

and promises yet to be fulfilled

according to your vision, O Master Builder.

Keep us faithful to your dream,

obedient to your call,

and strong partners in co-creating this new reality.

Amen.

Groundbreaking and Dedication

We celebrated the start of construction on Sunday, September 29, 2013 with a Groundbreaking and Dedication service.  Representatives from the City of Morgantown, area faith communities and congregations, First Presbyterian Church, the Synod of the Trinity, Progressity, the Westminster Foundation, our developers, consultants, donors, project supporters, and WVU students were present to celebrate with us.   We are grateful for the hard work of Lee Mullet and Julia Bolt in planning and organizing the Groundbreaking and Dedication service.

Preparations began early Sunday morning before the sun was barely on the horizon.  Members of the the Presbyterian Student Fellowship at WVU volunteered along with members of the Harless Center board and Groundbreaking Committee to get everything ready for the celebration after church including carrying over 60 folding chairs, putting up two tents and two tables, pouring pounds of dirt, and folding many programs. 

Chet Parsons, chair of the Harless Center board of directors, served as master of ceremonies and opened by recognizing special guests and giving thanks for those in attendance.  Revs John Sonnenday and Kristine Haig gave the invocation.  We heard about the history and vision of the project from John Bolt, President of the Westminster Foundation of WV.  Harless Center board member, Jerry Stone, shared his hopes for the project and how he became involved.  John Fisher (Dean Emeritus of the WVU College of Law) shared many stories of generosity about our honorary campaign chair James "Buck" Harless.   Dr. William Riley, Harless Center board member and Fundraising Committee chair, shared about ongoing fundraising needs and our campaign goal of $3.5 million.  Jordan Gunnoe (Harless Center Student Association President), Will Armentrout (President of the Presbyterian Student Fellowship), and Zevi Lowenberg (President of WVU Hillel) blessed and dedicated the site.  We had the official turning over of dirt and closed with a blessing from Rev. Dr. Shelly Barrick Parsons, WVU Presbyterian Campus Pastor.  The event ended with a reception.  In the following weeks we will share excerpts from the remarks given at the celebration.  

WBOY in Clarksburg featured the Groundbreaking and Dedication on the evening news. 

WBOY.com: Clarksburg, Morgantown: News, Sports, Weather

Everyone got in on the groundbreaking fun after the service was over before clean up started.

Demolition continues

The site for the apartment community is now completely cleared, and demolition is beginning on the site for the daycare playground.  

Parking lot demo

One of the earliest hopes of this project was to find a way to retain the playground for the Presbyterian Child Development Center located in the basement of First Presbyterian Church.  PCDC has been using a playground located on the Central School Property; the site for the Harless Center at Central Place apartment community. The playground site has been relocated to a parking lot on First Presbyterian Church property.  The developers are demolishing the parking lot, preparing the ground, and will fence the area to make it ready for surfacing and new playground equipment.   This will allow for a new and better located playground for the center right next to their entrance and exit.  Donations will cover the cost of installing the surfacing and equipment for the playground.  

You are invited to join us at the Groundbreaking and Dedication on Sunday, September 29, at 1 pm on Forest Avenue next door to First Presbyterian Church read more about our project at:  HarlessCenter.org.

Hopes for Harless Center

The college experience has many different levels.  While it's true most incoming freshman have been a student for at least 12 years, the world of being a college "student"  is quite different from that of a high school "student" with many layers of the college experience to adjust to like living away from home, managing time, and meeting people.

Living away from home is one of the best aspects of the college experience.  Many students look forward to moving to a new city and becoming a college student and learning about independence at the same time-- just learning to do your own laundry can be overwhelming for many.  Learning time management at the same time you're learning the importance of going to class can be a challenge. Learning every day! 

The residence hall is an instant community with opportunities to meet new people.  For some students the first year is more focused on the social world of college not the academic world. Very quickly students feel pressure to make a decision about where to live during their sophomore year......maybe before they have 'settled in' and have a good balance between academics and the social world of college.

Students have many choices to answer the question of "Where to live" their sophomore year since WVU only requires students to live on campus in residence halls for one year.  Harless Center at Central Place is an option I hope many will consider.  The community at Harless Center will be academic, spiritual, independent, and fun.  I believe it will provide a perfect mix for the college sophomore to thrive at WVU.  Our downtown location can eliminate the need to have a car, which can be a major HASSLE in Morgantown.  Apartment style living will help the transition towards independent living.  The community of WVU students making serious academic progress and encouraging each other is a wonderful aspect of the community.  The community of WVU students challenging each other spiritually will enhance the experiences of meeting new people.

Imagine the possibilities.......

Ellen Trovato
Board of Directors, Harless Center

Demolition has begun

Late last week and over the weekend, crews began to demolish the Central School the first step in seeing Harless Center at Central Place constructed.  It is an exciting milestone in the life of this project--to see work begin on the site and  our vision start to slowly take shape.

As we celebrate this milestone, we lift up our prayers for those working on the site today operating the machinery, loading the rubble, overseeing the work, and removing debris from the site.  We give our gratitude for the hard work they are doing to bring this project to fruition.

Code of Social Responsibility

An important aspect of the residential life and programming in Harless Center at Central Place will be the Code of Social Responsibility.  Residents will be expected to sign this when they choose to live in the community. You can view it here.

July 13, 2013

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On July 13 members of the Harless Center board met for a morning long retreat at First Presbyterian Church, Morgantown (adjacent to the building site).  To close our retreat, we gathered on the site to pray over it in preparation for the demolition and groundbreaking.  The site for the project is what is known in Morgantown as Central School formally an elementary school; the apartment building is named, Central Place, to keep the memory of the school present in the community.

We read excerpts from this passage found in the Christian New Testament:

Hebrews 11 - 12
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Faith is the reality of what we hope for, the proof of what we don’t see. The elders in the past were approved because they showed faith.

By faith we understand that the universe has been created by a word from God so that the visible came into existence from the invisible.

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was going to receive as an inheritance. He went out without knowing where he was going. . .

All these people didn’t receive what was promised, though they were given approval for their faith. God provided something better for us so they wouldn’t be made perfect without us.

Let’s also run the race

So then let’s also run the race that is laid out in front of us, since we have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us. Let’s throw off any extra baggage, get rid of the sin that trips us up, and fix our eyes on Jesus, faith’s pioneer and perfecter. 

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As we stood on the site it was easy to imagine the cloud of witnesses that had gone before us in the school building, on the playground, and throughout the site:  teachers, students, administrators, parents, families, friends.  We remembered the laughter and giggles, tears, sighs, the prayers that were already lifted on this site.  We lifted up those memories and people in prayer to God and with thanksgiving.
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We also prayed for the new ministry this site will have continuing to help people grow in understanding and belief.  We prayed for the new teachers, parents, students, families, builders, administrators, spiritual leaders, and staff who will serve.  We also lifted up the hoped for conversations, giggles, tears, sighs too deep for words, spiritual growth, community service, and learning that will one day rise up as prayers again from this site.
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We closed by remembering the endurance, faith, and hope of the congregation, campus ministry, board, developers, and community to see this project to its fruition.
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We continue to hope and wait for its construction this year and opening in May of 2015.