Distinguished Leaders: Miss Kim Creel.
"There are a lot of drugs and violence right here on our corner [the west-end of Charleston, WV]" states Kim Creel. "Our children are at-risk, a lot of them are running the streets and our juvenile crime rates are high" (2002). With these facts, Creel was determined to find a way to keep an after school program, on the verge of closing, open and available for children at no cost. Creel is the executive director of the Bob Burdette Center, which is a free Christian based after school program for underprivileged children. .
In 1993, this after school program was started and known as the James Paige Learning Center. However, in 1995 the center was going under financially and something needed to be done in order for it to remain in operation. Creel and other church members from Emmanuel Baptist came to the rescue to form the Bob Burdett Center. Creel wrote grants and started a fund-raising campaign, while Emmanuel Baptist Church scraped together money to help keep it running. Within no time, it became a stable and beneficial non-profit organization to many (Tranum, 2000).
The Bob Burdette Center is open on weekdays from 2:30pm to 6pm. According to Creel, it benefits approximately eighty-five children ages Kindergarten through the eighth grade. The center serves four elementary schools form the West Side including Chandler, Glenwood, JE Robins and Grandview; these schools send fifty-eight students. The additional twenty-seven students are from Stonewall Jackson Middle School. These junior high students participated in the program when they were younger; although now older, they still did not have anywhere to go after school, but wanted to continue going to the safe environment. Attending this after school program helps keep the children off the streets and away from a neighborhood that is contaminated with drug dealings and violence. Although, the center's main focus is homework time, the students also enjoy several additional activities such as, arts and crafts, computer lab, and organized gym time, while learning about Christ (Marks, 2001).
