CHANGE OF COMMAND
Multi-Service preparing to take over Ricketts Center
POTTSTOWN >> The new year will bring a new operator for the Ricketts Community Center on Beech Street.
The abrupt ending this August of the Olivet Boys and Girls Club’s uneven history of running the center, when the Berks-based club suddenly rejected a new four-year lease it has just obtained, ushered in a new era.
Boyertown Area MultiService, or just “MultiService” as they are often called, was selected by borough council in October out of five possible operators.
Four of those applicants, including the borough’s own parks and recreation department, are in Pottstown.
The selection of another
Berks County-based operator for the center left a sour taste in mouths of many community activists who had been arguing for months to bring the center’s control back to the community it serves.
Lydia Messinger, executive director of MultiService, understands the agency has some convincing to do, and that it may take some time.
The agency’s lease with the borough gives them two years.
During a recent visit to the center, Messinger and Matthew Hovey, the president of Multi-Service’s board of directors, said despite the 45 years of experience running the Spring Street community center in Boyertown, they do not have any pre-conceptions about what Pottstown needs.
In addition to its community center, Multi-Service also runs a Meals on Wheels Program, a Wellness Council and a food pantry.
“We want to provide responsive programming that answers the needs of the community,” said Messinger. “We don’t want to duplicate services that are already here.”
Multi-Service intends to understand those needs through a variety of methods, including surveys and meeting with community organizations, like the Pottstown chapter of the NAACP and the Pottstown Ministerium, “which has been very helpful already,” said Messinger.
But perhaps the primary method for determining the needs of the Pottstown community will be an advisory board that Multi-Service intends to establish.
The only sure membership of that panel so far will be two seats filled by borough staff, a level of involvement borough government did not have for the 10 years the center was run by Olivet and a requirement of the lease with the borough, which owns the building.
“We’ve approached some people and we’ve already had some people reach out,” Messinger said of the advisory board. “We want this advisory board to help direct program development.”
“Sports, fitness, health and wellness, homework support, art and music activities,” are among the programs the center hopes to provide, according to a release Multi-Service issued after being awarded the lease.
Even with this flexibility, some things about the center’s operation have already been decided and, in the eyes of many, will be an improvement.
For example, under Multi-Service, the center will be open in the evenings, having weekday hours from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
More significant is that the Ricketts Center will be open on weekends, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., a change that many had sought from the center for years.
Further, the center will have a “family focus,” and will be sure to be open whenever school is out.
“Programs that MultiService itself runs will be free, but it intends to partner with other providers, such as the parks and recreation department, which often charge a fee,” Messinger said.
In addition to programming, there are improvements to the center itself which are underway.
The work will be done in two phases, said Messinger, the first being cosmetic — new paint, replacing stained ceiling tiles, cleaning and repairing the floors.
Also on tap, but dependent on funding, are an upgrade to the bathrooms; new refrigerators; new computers and new equipment.
“We’re looking for sponsors, so if a business or individual wants to sponsor a refrigerator, or computer, or even buy some new basketballs,” she said.
She said Multi-Service became aware of the situation at Ricketts from an article in The Mercury.
“We didn’t want to see the center close, so we decided to throw our hat into the ring and see what happens,” said Messinger. “Our only focus is helping.”
“Our board believes this will be a transformative moment for both Multi-Service and the Ricketts Center,” said Hovey. “We intend to be good stewards of the Ricketts Center and fully embrace a partnership with the individuals and families we are excited to serve in the coming years.”
Some History of The Ricketts Center
The Ricketts Center at 658 Beech St. in Pottstown is housed in a 48-year-old red brick building.
Officially named the Pottstown Community Center when it was dedicated Nov. 20, 1971, it replaced the Bethany Center, a building that stood on the same ground for a century before its replacement.
The building that housed the Bethany Center was originally a chapel built on property owned by The Hill School. The driving force behind its construction most likely was Marion Butler Meigs, the wife of John Meigs, The Hill’s Headmaster.
In 1942, The Hill School offered the ownership of Bethany Chapel to the Pottstown Borough, presumably for use as a recreation center.
The Spicer Corporation, a Pottstown industry now known as Dana, donated $500,000, and on Feb. 8, 1943, the transfer was completed.
Designed by Pottstown architect Richard Frantz and built by Pottstown
“Our board believes this will be a transformative moment for both Multi-Service and the Ricketts Center. We intend to be good stewards of the Ricketts Center and fully embrace a partnership with the individuals and families we are excited to serve in the coming years.” — Matthew Hovey, left, president of the board of directors of Boyertown Area Multi-Service
contractor Warren Zern, the new building was dedicated Sat., Nov. 20, 1971. The Bethany Center was gone and so was its name.
Its first director was Pottstown native Richard J. Ricketts, known to all as “Mr. Dick.” He was assisted by a staff, most of whom were probably volunteers, that at times included his wife, Margaret, as well as Alice Beasley and Barbara Corum.
Born in Pottstown July 6, 1912, Ricketts graduated from Pottstown High School in 1931 and attended Clark University in Georgia. During World War II he saw action in Europe as a sergeant with the Combat Engineers.
Following Ricketts’ death in 1967, Mercury articles show that Walter Weaver was the “center’s supervisor” and Mary Barber was “recreation supervisor.”
Rosalious H. “Clapper” White became the father figure and mentor to the children at the center. Born in Pottstown in 1930, he graduated from Pottstown High School in 1947. He served in the Army during the Korean War.
A man of exceptional athletic talent, “Clapper,” as former Mercury sportswriter Rosemarie Ross wrote, “could have been anything. Olympian weight lifter, champion pool player, football star.” But, “He was a man of God and his deep faith grabbed him and pulled him away from pursuing the high pinnacles of sport. He became, instead, the spiritual voice for much of this community.” Pottstown native Crystal Williams became director of the Ricketts Center in the 1990s. Creative and energetic, she developed many unique programs for the center’s children. In addition to the traditional arts and crafts program she arranged for the Penn State University Cooperative Extension to visit the center and give cooking classes. There was a drill team with a drum line, an African Dance Group that performed in public, and “Jazz under the Stars,” a concert series that featured live music outdoors.
Williams was instrumental in obtaining a grant that brought a mural artist to the center to work with high school students. They spent an entire summer creating a set of murals in the old weight room that depicted scenes from Ricketts and people who were important to the center.
Her tenure at Ricketts ended when the Olivet Boys and Girls Club of Reading took over on Jan. 1, 1999.
Michael Snyder contributed to this article.