Community Center Saturdays coming to Medical Lake

Medical Lake residents may notice some activity happening at the middle school on Saturday afternoons in the near future.

The city of Medical Lake, the local school district and Re*Imagine Medical Lake are partnering to host Community Center Saturdays, which will be from 10 a.m. -- 2 p.m. at the middle school.

The first Community Center Saturday event will be March 25 in what school district Superintendent Tim Ames described as a “soft opening.”

The idea to establish Community Center Saturdays came from the district and Re*Imagine’s fall Thoughtexchange conversation that went out to parents and residents. In a Sept. 22 Cheney Free Press story, Jan Bailey and Terri Cooper, who are both on Re*Imagine’s leadership committee, said the process was to help the organization and the school district learn about some of the concerns and project ideas residents have. Two concerns from Medical Lake residents were lack of activities for local youth and no official recreation or community center in the city.

Ames said the program will provide a place to go for youth, and senior citizens, on Saturdays.

Ray Ornelas, Fairchild Air Force Base liaison for the school district who is organizing the program, said the middle school was chosen as the host site because of its location in the city limits and it has the space to accommodate various activities.

“It has a big cafeteria and a gym space where you can play basketball and stuff like that,” Ornelas said. “The classrooms can be used for presentations as well. Say you have a robotics team that wants to show kids how to build and take apart a robot. We’ll give them a classroom to do that.”

Ornelas said staff from the Medical Lake Parks and Recreation Department, volunteers and mentors will supervise the program’s activities. Communities in Schools will provide training opportunities for prospective mentors. Ornelas is currently connecting with Fairchild Air Force Base personnel to volunteer on Saturdays.

“The training will provide mentors with some techniques and ideas on how they can relate to some of these kids,” Ornelas said.

Ornelas said the soft opening is designed to help gauge how many residents he can anticipate attending the community center on future Saturdays.

“It will show us if we need to prepare for 20, 25 or 40 kids, and how to plan activities for future Saturdays,” Ornelas said. “We’ll also have data (on attendance) to present to outside groups, like the American Legion, who may want to support us.”

The program is partnering with Second Harvest to provide a lunch, which will be served by school district staff. Ornelas said the idea behind serving a lunch is to ensure that every child in Medical Lake has at least one meal on the weekend.

In addition to the activities, Ornelas said the program is an opportunity for senior citizens to meet and engage with local youth.

“We’re hoping the discussions will bridge the gap and help millennials get a better understanding of baby boomers and what it was like for them growing up in the Korean War and Vietnam War, compared to (the younger generation) growing up during the Iraq War,” he added.

Training sessions for volunteers and mentors

March 16 at Fairchild Air Force Base Education Center from 5-7 p.m.

March 21 at Hallett Elementary School from 5-7 p.m.

For more information or to RSVP for the training sessions email Jessica Deutsch at jessica@cisspokane.org.

Al Stover can be reached at al@cheneyfreepress.com.