The firefighters from Ladder 7 walked into the former credit union at 2212 Myrtle Ave. N. carrying the first of many bags of toys destined for the children of Jacksonville’s murder victims.

“You’ve got a new home,” Engineer Steve Cooney said Tuesday as they piled the bags in the lobby of a building that became the new home for Families of Slain Children just two weeks ago.

For four years, firefighters from the station at 2436 Division St. brought the toys to nonprofit agency founder Beverly McClain’s former site seven blocks north at 3108 Myrtle Ave. N. for its annual Christmas party.

When the owner of that two-story property opted to sell it, the Michael J. Ward Foundation stepped in late September to buy it so McClain and her volunteers could continue operating.

Lately though, McClain said she could never get that owner to tell them “how much he wanted for the place.” She and Ward checked the community and spotted the 2,400-square-foot former credit union at Myrtle Avenue and West 13th Street that had been for sale for two years. Right across from a church, the Graham branch library and Stanton College Preparatory, it has 10 parking spots.

“Mr. Ward said, let’s ride, and we went for a ride and he saw this,” McClain said. ”… He asked if I liked it, and I liked it. So they got the bank officials to come out here and they made it happen.”

Smiling broadly this week Ward said “you can’t miss” the new site on the busy road.

“We looked in the door and said that looks pretty good,” he said. “It’s across from a school, library and bus stop. They can do a lot more counseling here. And it’s only a few blocks from the old place so they can still serve the current clients. We will keep the memorial wall out there and it will be a lot better visibility.”

Known for its seven-panel memorial wall commemorating almost 3,000 homicide and crime victims, Families of Slain Children was started in 2006 to help other families dealing with their children’s violent deaths. That was a year after McClain’s son Andre was killed. When the owner of a condemned home at 3108 Myrtle Ave. N. offered it to her for $10 a year soon after, volunteers renovated it.

A GoFundMe site was begun, but almost nothing was donated. Ward then announced he was willing to buy the building after reading a Sept. 11 Times-Union story about the sale.

Ward was CEO of CSX from 2003 to March 2014 before retiring just over a year ago to start a foundation with his wife, Jennifer Glock. He said McClain’s agency does “great stuff,” so he made the decision to help.

Ward wouldn’t say how much he paid for the building, built in 1990 as the Ducote Credit Union. But he said its owners did lower the price because they “wanted this to be something that would give back to the community and you fit it perfectly.”

McClain has the former manager’s office overlooking the lobby where daughter Andrea Williams was working on a computer. The counter where deposit slips once were is now a memorial altar with an angel statue and brochures about crime victim programs.

Counseling will be done in two offices off the lobby, with a large conference room nearby. Bulletproof glass still fronts the old teller counter, a large break room now housing two refrigerators for food donated to clients and a men’s and women’s bathroom nearby.

She said her new neighborhood has welcomed them, and she’s happy.

As Ladder 7 firefighters discussed the Dec. 20 Christmas party it and other area fire stations hold for the children McClain’s agency serves with McClain and Ward, Cooney commented on the new home.

“If it gets Miss Beverly closer to me, it makes my world better,” Cooney said. “Four years ago, we met over at the old house by Station 18 and she needed help. We had a bunch of firemen step up to help her with what she needed and the relationship has continued for the four years.”

McClain said they will spread the word about the new location via the news media, social media and “word of mouth” as its GoFundMe site remains at gofundme.com/save-building-and-memorial-wall to raise funds to outfit its new home.

Donations can also be made at the agency’s site at http://www.fosci.org. Ward is setting up a matching challenge grant for McClain’s agency, donating $1 for every dollar raised up to $30,000, to help expand their services in 2019.

“I want to hire some people and have money to do things,” McClain said.

As for the seven-panel memorial wall, it will be moved and installed in front of the new building and in the grass next to the parking lot before Christmas, McClain said.

 

Scanlan, D., Florida Times Union Newspaper (2018, November 21). Group that helps murder victims families finds new home. Retrieved from https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20181121/group-that-helps-murder-victims-families-finds-new-home