'Dreams do come true!'
Fletcher Place opens new Adult Center for Education

By Matthew Carlisle
HUM Staff Writer

INDIANAPOLIS - Pink programs reading, "The future lies beyond this ribbon" waved in the air as the ceremonial ribbon was cut at Fletcher Place's new Adult Center for Education (ACE) on March 15. Packed with well-wishers and news crews, all hoped to get a glimpse of the new facility located at 1831 E. Prospect Street.

In less than a year, Fletcher Place, a United Methodist agency, was able to raise the needed $250,000 to purchase and renovate the ACE building.

The center will provide, at no cost to participants, a literacy program, the successful Survival Skills course, computer training, writing classes, job placement assistance, and a resource center. Previously housed at Fletcher Place, the Survival Skills program was bursting at the seams, averaging 45 students per week, they simply needed more space. The Rev. Jessi Langlie, Executive Director of Fletcher Place, declared, "Dreams do come true."

ACE is more than bricks and mortar. The hard working graduates and sweat of volunteers built the foundational principles on which it stands. According to Burt Badenhop, "It took 400 hours and 13 volunteers from Immanuel United Church of Christ to complete the dry walling and painting."

All rooms in the new building are named in memory and honor of friends of Fletcher Place. The Becky Day Resource Room, tribute to a dedicated graduate taken by cancer, will equip Survival Skills graduates with tools to gain employment. Monitors flicker in the Dorthy M. Wisely Computer Room. For his tireless efforts, the Burt Badenhop Room will provide space for writing classes.

Off the main entrance sits the Elizabeth Anderson Room, space dedicated for Survival Skills classes. The room holds a special place in the heart of Theresa Wood-Hoyt, Director of Adult Education at ACE and a Survival Skills graduate, "If it weren't for my mother (Elizabeth Anderson), I wouldn't be here." Brandon, a young victim of his father's violence, is memorialized with the Brandon & Josephine Safe Place. Parents can take classes and still be near their children. Meetings and literacy classes will take place in the Pegasus Room.

Graduates of the program staff Fletcher Place and ACE. Jenni Clarkson, Administrative Assistant at Fletcher Place feels, "No matter who you are, you can learn a lot from Survival Skills." Jenni is a graduate of the University of Indianapolis and of Survival Skills.

The Fletcher Place Adult Center for Education is open Mon.-Fri. from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. To learn more, visit their Web site at www.gbgm-umc.org/fpcc.

Last updated January 14, 2004

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'Dreams do come true!' Fletcher Place opens new Adult Center for Education

'Dreams do come true!'
Fletcher Place opens new Adult Center for Education