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Donation benefits youths at behavioral center

T-L Photo/ ROBERT A. DEFRANK Mary Lee Powell is thanked for her donation of $15,000 to The Village Network for renovation of the facility’s gym. Gathering, from left, during a ribbon cutting ceremony are Rich Granziano, president and CEO of The Village Network; Janice Cochran, Powell’s daughter; Powell; Linda Timko, Powell’s daughter; and The Village Network representatives Danielle McCoy, director of development, and Mark Ingles, southeast regional director.

MORRISTOWN – The children being served at The Village Network’s Morristown campus now have a renovated gym thanks in large part to the generosity of an area resident.

The behavioral health center held a ribbon-cutting Tuesday to thank Mary Lee Powell, who donated $15,000. Southeast Regional Director Mark Ingles said the floor has been renovated and the walls painted.

“Mrs. Powell donated money for us to redo our gym floor,” Rich Granziano, president and CEO of The Village Network, said. “We’re redoing the whole building over the next two years. This was the first project and she was the first major donor.”

Powell has been a longtime resident of Belmont County. She and her late husband, Baden Powell, have been believers in strengthening communities. Baden Powell worked as a track coach for the Army in Germany, and the couple later served as parent volunteers for the St. Clairsville High School track and football teams.

After her husband’s death, Powell, continued to contribute to the track and football field and now to The Village Network.

Ingles commented on the generosity and enthusiasm of the people of the area.

“This is just one example of many experiences I’ve had since moving to Belmont County of the generous, kind community of Belmont County and the surrounding counties. It truly takes a village to raise a child, and that’s very much what we were celebrating today,” he said. “The kids that we serve, like any kids, needs a place to burn energy and needs a place to have physical activity. The gym floor makes it a safer place for that to happen, but more important is the basketball program where our kids participate with local church groups and volunteer groups that come in to play against our kids. They’re learning how to interact with the community, how to introduce themselves to strangers. … Now, they can welcome those visitors into a beautiful gymnasium.”

The next steps will be new furniture, carpeting and driveway.

Ingles added that the need for the organization’s services continues to grow.

“Any county children’s services agency or jobs and family service agency would say the same,” he said. “There are more kids who are in need, more kids who are experiencing greater levels of trauma earlier in life that makes programs like this one more important. We teach kids how to cope and we teach kids how to develop beyond arrested brain development caused by trauma.”

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