Renovations are complete at the Market Street Youth Center and it is looking fantastic! Last summer, Delaware Youth for Christ received a very generous grant from the Longwood Foundation which made these renovations possible.

The extensive renovations at the Market Street Youth Center have given the youth center a total facelift, and include:
- New roof and gutters
- New windows and repaired and repainted exterior of the building
- Removal of damaged concrete walkways behind the center
- New floors and walls on the first floor
- A new kitchen on the first floor
- Addition of a "Cafe" area
- Completion of a new life-size mural
- Removing walls and creating a large room on the 3rd floor
- Mounted theatre-style projector with DVD and Wii System

We would like to offer our sincere thanks to Marrs Contracting for their diligent work and their generous contributions to the project.

Special Thanks

This project would not have been possible without the help of some very special people whose contributions and passion have been a huge blessing:

Bob Nickle
Bob is a renowned local artist and a YFC Advisory Board member. He has been volunteering to teach watercolor painting lessons to kids at the Market Street Youth Center for several years, and is also a mentor. Bob's amazing mural - It Is Finished - is freshly completed and adorns the first floor of the youth center. You can't miss it when you walk in the front door.

Bob & Daurice Grubbs and Green Hill Presbyterian Church
Mr. & Mrs. Grubbs have been volunteering at the youth center for many years, teaching wide-ranging arts and crafts to the kids, and helping with a variety of repair and maintenance jobs around the center. Green Hill Church has been very generous with many projects over the years and we are very grateful.

Longwood Foundation
The Longwood Foundation made this project possible. Their very generous grant gave us the ability to restore this youth center to good condition. It is now something the kids are proud of, and will be around for a long time to come.

Marrs Contracting
The team from Marrs Contracting not only did a great job of completing the work in a professional and visually impressive fashion, they did it on a shoestring budget. And when funds fell short, they gave of their own time and energy to see things through to completion. Seeing the center today is a testament to the great work that Randy Marrs' team has done.

Youth Center Student Leaders
The pride you see on the faces of the kids in the youth center is theirs because they have worked very hard to have something to be proud of. Under Jason Rayburn's direction, kids worked to sand and refinish chairs, refurbish tables and build computer desks. Jason has worked very hard, and the student leaders have stepped up alongside of him and worked very hard as well. They have done a great job transforming not only their youth center, but their own lives as well, and (in the words of Amanda, one of the student leaders), "I have no doubt that the center will one day transform the community we're in!"