SMITHFIELD - The first program to benefit youth at the Brightway Center was held Saturday.
It wasn't a large crowd but is the first step in following the dream of Kara Bright, Brightway founder, and from whose home and farm property the center operates.
A teen dating violence prevention workshop for boys and girls was conducted with Ann Marie Weaver and Eric McNeil, both of the Columbus area, presenting the sessions.
Other programs will be held focusing on youth, young adults and adults, according to Cathy Takach, board member, who noted an open house for the local community will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on April 9.
"Kara Bright's dream is happening. People are working with this project for the right reasons. The community has opened its arms to Brightway. People are stopping me on the street and asking how they can be involved," Takach said.
The home has been converted to offices on the second floor, with a chapel window overlooking part of the farm land for the headquarters of Daryle Griffin, Brightway president and CEO. An office for Jennifer Trehar, director of advancement, other office space and two restrooms are part of the second floor plan as well.
The renovated rooms have some brick walls and real fireplaces still intact from the home that was build in the early 1800s.
These will be meeting rooms and one room has been designated as a memorabilia room for Bright's many trophies, pictures and mementoes, officials noted.
The Rev. Patricia Angel, born and raised in the Steubenville area, and returning to the pulpit of the Smithfield St. Paul AME Church from Columbus in October said, "You can see God working in this, and I am seeing great camaraderie here. I'm hoping the Smithfield people and those in the county will come out and participate. This will benefit the entire community.
"My passion has always been young people and abused women. I have a book coming out in October that covers both subjects called 'Picked Out to be Picked On,'" she said.
Jennifer Trehar, who commutes to Brightway from Pittsburgh, designed the brochure for Brightway that notes the center will focus on the "mind, body and spirit." It shows a photo of coach Bright, high school teacher and head basketball coach, who started the Ohio Chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in the 1960s.
Brightway was incorporated in 1997, and Trehar was responsible for the logo that shows a Christian cross, mother figure and child above the Brightway Center name.
Takach said the empty rooms will be filled with furniture soon from a Governor's Office of Appalachia grant for $30,000.
Area businesses made donations for the youth seminar, with Lunches with Love contributing trays of cookies, donated in memory of Jim Jonard of Columbus, who was involved with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. "He and Kara go way back," Griffin said.
Funding is needed for the project that continues with other buildings, sports complex areas and events.
"Our goal is to build a place where we can help everyone become the person they want to be," Trehar stated in the brochure.
(McCoy can be contacted at emccoy@heraldstaron line.com.)
