Center of Attention

Guadalupe Community Center, which has provided help and activities for the area’s poor for 50 years, has begun a $1-million renovation that will allow it to expand its services.

The center, situated amid modest apartment buildings on Hart Street, is run by Catholic Charities, which operates 83 nonprofit centers in Southern California.

Its two acres--donated in 1947 by prominent West Valley philanthropist Mary Logan Orcutt--and run-down buildings are not adequate to accommodate expanding programs.

The center annually serves an estimated 11,000 of the area’s neediest residents. It offers academic and recreation activities, a food pantry and nutrition program, Guadalupe Community Center Director Margaret Pontius said.

“We’ve been actively pursuing funding for this [renovation] for about five years,” Pontius said.

“It’s extremely important because we are in such a crowded state.”

Construction, which began last week, is being funded by Catholic Charities, the city’s Targeted Neighborhood Initiative program and Proposition K money.

Administered by the city of Los Angeles, Targeted Neighborhood Initiative funds come from federal block grants.

Proposition K was a bond measure passed by voters in 1996 to develop parks and open space.

Guadalupe Center’s three-phase overhaul, expected to take about two years, will expand existing buildings, refurbish a concrete basketball court and add a children’s playground, multipurpose sports field and a community center.

Pontius said the renovation will give the center more room for children’s recreation and academic programs, enlarge the food pantry and create space to accommodate nonprofit organizations that offer services not now available at the Guadalupe Center.

“We want to bring in things like family counseling and bilingual legal services,” Pontius said.

“Right now, we don’t have the room.”

The center, run by four paid employees and 25 volunteers, offers free services for its neighbors, mostly poor Latinos.

For children, there is tutoring, music, dance and story-telling classes, and sports and recreation programs.

The center also has family food programs. A senior nutrition program provides a healthy lunch five days a week as well as exercise and activity classes.

The Loaves and Fishes program provides emergency food and clothing three times a week to anyone in need. Loaves and Fishes annually helps about 10,000, Pontius said.

‘The Community Really Needs This’

Volunteers distribute brown grocery bags full of rice, beans, pasta and canned goods between 9 a.m. and noon Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

“People are so grateful,” said Corinne Ramirez, a volunteer from West Hills who staffed the Loaves and Fishes desk this week.

“The community really needs this and now that they’re going to modernize it, it will be great because it’s just too crowded.”

Fernando Villa, who lives a block from the center, said he can’t wait for the construction to be completed.

His daughters, Leslie, 6, and Aneli, 4, receive tutoring and attend art classes there four times a week.

Once the place is remodeled, there will be bigger rooms for the girls to study and use computers, he said.

“It’s such a great place, specially for the kids,” Villa said. “My girls love going there. They really look forward to it.”

On weekends, the Villa sisters play on the center’s fenced-in grounds because it’s safe. There are no parks within walking distance of their apartment.

Children Feel Safe at the Center

Hundreds of children use the grounds daily, Pontius said, which is why a large dirt lot will be converted into a recreation field with a play area, complete with swings and monkey bars, and a sports field for soccer and other activities.

“Many of our clients live in small apartments and this is the only recreation facility near them,” Pontius said.

“It’s a perfect place for kids to come and play and they feel safe here.”