From staff reports
Four months after fire destroyed PennWest-Clarion’s Community Learning Workshop, co-founders and PennWest faculty members Leah Chambers and Rich Lane located a new home for the workshop — at 622 Main St., next to Dan Smith’s Candies — and are preparing to reopen in mid-September.
CLW is celebrating 10 years of providing services, including tutoring and homework help, to local schoolchildren. The facility partners with Riverview Intermediate Unit 6 to support adult learners who are preparing to take the GED exam. The workshop also has hosted special events.
“We looked around town for a couple of months after the fire, and we could not find a suitable space,” Chambers said.
“It just so happened that I was in Dan Smith’s Candies one afternoon, and one of the owners, Lisa Heller, told me that the other half of their building was available; the current tenant was not renewing her lease,” Chambers said. “The space is in an excellent location, and it is slightly larger with a more open floor plan than what we were previously renting.”
Another perk is that it’s quieter, because it’s not on a busy corner. The space needs to be renovated to add a restroom and an office. Chambers expects that work to be done by the end of the month.
CLW also has provided hands-on experience to PennWest students. Last spring, 15 students, including secondary education, integrative studies, communications, sociology and speech pathology majors, were employed by the workshop.
Staff member Marleen Meyer, a senior secondary education (mathematics) and mathematics dual major, is developing and facilitating an SAT preparatory course for her senior Honors project.
The workshop during spring served 10 to 15 students each day — about 30 different children each week — at the Main Street location, and an additional 12 students at St. Joseph Church in Lucinda, where tutors traveled each Monday.
After the fire, several churches offered temporary space to CLW. The workshop accepted space in First Baptist Church on Main Street to finish the semester.
“Although we are excited about our new space and the coming year, starting over has been difficult,” Chambers said.
After the fire, CLW received many donations to replenish the books and educational supplies that had been lost. Chambers said monetary donations are still needed. PennWest has established a crowdfunding platform for CLW.
“We will use these funds to expand our programming, including the addition of a STEM corner where children can engage in hands-on activities,” she said. “It’s likely that there are items that we’ve forgotten to repurchase and will need to reopen.”
Anyone wishing to donate should visit pennwest.edu/clw.