The Schuylkill YMCA is adding a computer lab thanks to a $7,000 grant from the Pottsville Rotary Club.
Construction started early Thursday morning on what will be called the Pottsville Rotary Club Tutoring Center and Computer Lab on the second floor at the YMCA, 520 N. Centre St., Pottsville.
“Our goal is to provide a safe environment for kids who don’t have access to the Internet after school to do homework,” Robert J. “Bob” Oravitz, Schuylkill YMCA chief executive officer, said Thursday.
The grant was awarded as part of the club’s 100th anniversary celebration in 2014. However, the Schuylkill YMCA has had plenty of projects keeping it busy until now, like the 2015 renovations of the gym floor and women’s locker room.
“We are taking a 100-year-old building and we are making it better,” Oravitz said.
The computer lab is being added to the second floor of the building next to the teen center. The current entrance to the area being used for the computer lab is being walled off in the teen center. It is about 300 square feet, Oravitz said.
Another doorway is being added by the community meeting room and Oravitz’s office. L&K Construction Inc., Pottsville, is handling the work.
Oravitz said about 35 to 55 teenagers already use the teen center and that will probably increase when the computer lab opens.
“That’s where we came up with the idea of expanding our resources,” Oravitz said.
The grant covers the construction and purchase of four computer towers and four monitors and printers from Copy Cat Business Systems, Pottsville. The remaining money is being used for computer and printer supplies, Oravitz said.
Oravitz said work should be finished within about three weeks and the computer room should be open within about five weeks.
The Schuylkill YMCA is looking to have teachers from local school districts join the tutoring program. Oravitz said the teachers that volunteer their time to the program will be offered a free membership to the YMCA.
Meanwhile, the Schuylkill YMCA is also working on a partnership with the Boy Scouts of America, Hawk Mountain Council, on a career-exploration post for middle school students.
“My goal here is to become a progressive nonprofit,” Oravitz said. “This is going to be something new for us to take us to the next level.”