CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Westside Helping Hand is a non-profit that aims to help at-risk youth.
The local after-school program in the heart of the city's westside opened its doors four years ago, and now they have a brand new home.
What was an old Corpus Christi Independent School District school building at 3146 Highland Avenue is once again a place for children to learn and play.
Staff at Westside Helping Hand moved into their location about a month ago.
"It's awesome. We have a ton of room to expand here. We can help more kids than we were able to before," program director Garner Burford said.
According to Burford, the non-profit first started in the basement of the Our Lady of Guadalupe, but it's popularity boomed.
"It was vital, essential. A church basement was limiting with only so many bathrooms, so many places kids could play," Burford said.
The new location for Westside Helping Hand is double in size with room to grow.
"I love we learn and get to play, and we have nice coaches," attendee Nicholas Chavarria said.
Westside Helping Hand is a program for at-risk youth in the city's westside targeting kids who come from families on the poverty line, single households, or those who need assistance.
"We offer tutoring services, mentoring services, we pick the kids up from school, we feed them every day at zero cost to the parents," said Burford.
According to Burford, the support from the community through grants and donations is what helped make the new location a reality.
"Its been a long time coming. It took us years to raise this money, but we were able to do with the help of a lot of people in Corpus Christi," Burford said.
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