Kent-based non-profit LoveLight, Inc. announced the launch of its latest initiative, Service, Teaching, Advocacy, and Research Center for Human Integration, Learning and Development, which is abbreviated to STARCHILD.
STARCHILD will work both as a headquarters for the non-profit and will also work as a hybrid community and child development center for the families of Kent and surrounding communities.
Founded in 1995, LoveLight, Inc. began as a diverse project to assist and support disadvantaged children and families within the surrounding community to tackle the various issues that affect these groups. The group provides services such as meal delivery, tutoring, academic achievement programs, after-school childcare programs and collaborative tutor partnerships with local college students.
Founder and Kent State Professor Lisbeth “Betsy” Justice said she used her vast experiences in education and nonprofits as a baseboard for what she envisioned LoveLight to be.
“[As an undergraduate student,] I was affiliated with the anti-poverty movement,” she said. “One of the ideas was to move beyond just alleviating poverty and help people to reach their move toward reaching their full potential.”
After years of operations, LoveLight was still waiting for a physical headquarters to call home until recently.
The STARCHILD center has been a goal for quite some time. Justice said the new center will provide a space for a child development center, operational Monday through Friday.
“I knew that in order for LoveLight to continue to serve the community, we needed a home and we needed a strong financial base,” she said. “Over the years we’ve done various programs, but in order to have the impact that I know we could have, we need to see the kids on a consistent basis.”
Much like their current operations, STARCHILD will hold countless, year-round programs.
“[The property] does [need] renovation,” she said. “There’s also a house on the property, which I am hoping could be used […] for the infants and very young children. It’s on eight and a half acres, which opens up the possibility for all kinds of activities [like] gardening [and] other activities for the kids. There’s even a little wooded section at the back of the property. There [are] so many possibilities on that property […] to benefit both the children and the community at large.”
The STARCHILD center is currently being negotiated and established in a former church on South Water Street without a set opening date.
However, LoveLight does have several events in the meantime for people to get involved with.
“We’ll be looking at starting back tutoring plus at The Villages at Franklin Crossing Apartments,” she said. “ We’re also looking at doing as long as the weather is nice, once a week, having outdoor activities for kids at Villages at Franklin Crossing and also Summit Gardens apartments.
We’re also looking in November at having a multicultural holiday festival. This will be our second one on Saturday, November 4, and we’re inviting vendors to come. We [also want to have a] Christmas tree auction, and last year we had a couple of sororities get trees and decorate them, and they were part of the auction.”
Grace Davies is a campus editor. Contact her at [email protected].
