New Fort Smith Boys Home facility a ‘major step forward’ for the program

Officials with the Fort Smith Boys Home are set to open a new facility that represents a more than $2 million investment in the agency’s goal of “changing lives” and “building futures.” It will double the number of boys the agency can support.

A ceremonial opening is set for 1 to 3 p.m., July 2, at the new facility located at 6515 Zero St., in Fort Smith. Boys Home Executive Director Eddie Donovan said the facility will likely open to boys in the program in early August. U.S. Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., and U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, R-Rogers, plan to attend, but legislative action may keep them in Washington, D.C., Donovan said.

The new facility was purchased from Trinity Multifamily for $1.05 million, and renovated to have 8 bedrooms, staff offices, and a large fenced yard. The new facility also includes a large commercial kitchen with food storage, a theater room, a computer room, and spaces for health care and counseling.

The Boys Home works with the Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS) to provide a home for young boys who had to leave their family, or are involved in the foster care system “due to abuse, neglect or abandonment.”

“These are tough kids,” said Donovan, who worked with DHS for a year prior to being the agency director. “They are good kids. I think a lot of them are angels, but they don’t have foundations, they don’t have trust. They’ve been abused emotionally, physically, verbally, sexually, but they’ve been neglected more than anything.”

‘MAJOR STEP FORWARD’
The new facility will house boys ages 11 to 15, with the existing facility at 5904 Zero St., to house boys ages 16 to 18. When the new space opens, the Boys Home will be able to support 28 boys, double the number now in the local system. The staff numbers are expected to increase from 18 to 28 when the new space is fully operational.

The staff – the “youth advocates,” according to Donovan – work with the young men to address their particular needs and issues. Part of that includes Donovan’s work with those about to age out of the system.

“I’ve got a 50-point thing I go over with them that when you turn 18 everybody should know,” he said. “When I turned 18 I probably knew half of them. But that’s kind of the goal to make sure the 16- to 18-year olds are maturing enough to live on their own and take care of themselves.”

Items on the 50-point plan include how to get prescriptions, continuing education options, how to get a Real ID, how to do laundry, how to budget money to pay for groceries and other necessities, and how to access food banks and other social support outlets.

Marty Clark, president of Fort Smith-based BHC Insurance and Boys Home board president, said many in the region have made it possible for the agency to help more young boys.

“The Fort Smith Boys Home is proud to celebrate the grand opening of our new $2 million foster care facility, which will double our capacity from 14 to 28 children,” Clark noted. “This milestone marks a major step forward in our mission to provide stability, healing, and opportunity for boys in crisis. We are deeply grateful for the support of our visionary board members, community, donors, and public officials. I want to especially recognize Executive Director Eddie Donovan, whose leadership over the past decade has transformed this organization and made this expansion possible. Fort Smith should be proud of what we’re building together.”

DONOR SUPPORT
The road to the new facility has been long and bumpy. When Donovan arrived around 10 years ago, the agency had around $20,000 in the bank and received only $21 a day from the DHS per boy. Donovan said he was soon able to get the pay up to around $40 a day, but it still wasn’t enough.

About five years ago, Arkansas changed its reimbursement formula and qualifications, according to Donovan, and the shelter staff worked through the requirements and qualifications to meet the new standards. The pay per boy in the system is now around $165 a day.

“It’s still not enough, but very manageable at this point,” Donovan said. “We can give some of the direct care people (staff) raises and we can do some things we need to do.”

Donovan said “many, many donors who wish to remain anonymous” helped the new facility become a reality and help the agency each year with its total mission. There are two families who provide the boys a meal every Tuesday and Thursday. Donovan sent a list to a previous donor of three big purchases needed for the new location. The total was around $40,000. Donovan asked the donor which of the three he might be willing to support.

“He sent it back and said, ‘I’ll do the whole thing,’” Donovan said.

Some donors aren’t anonymous. First National Bank of Fort Smith gave $100,000 toward the renovation. Gerdau Special Steel Fort Smith, formerly MacSteel, provides “significant” financial support for Christmas presents for the boys and to support Boys Home fundraisers, Donovan said. Other support has come from the Degen Foundation and Western Arkansas Counseling and Guidance Center.

Donovan credited the Boys Home board of directors for supporting the plan to buy the new facility and renovate it.

“We didn’t take a building and throw 16 beds in there and say, ‘We’re good,’” Donovan said. “We have retrofitted this for everything that we could have ever dreamed about, and there is no place in the state that has anything better than what we have here. And with what we have here, we get to do more to make them (boys) a more productive citizen.”