CUERO, Texas (AP) - Viola Holman still remembers her time as a student at the Daule School. She and her classmates would walk down the hall between classes, in a line, practicing spelling words aloud as they strolled to lunch.
The Victoria Advocate reports the 67-year-old recalled her favorite moments in the former all-black school gymnasium that has, in recent years, become a large storage room.
“I loved spelling, and I always got 100s,” Holman said, her laugh echoing in the gym.
Holman, an alumna of the Daule School, is a member of the Cuero community who is determined to bring life back to the 70-year-old structure and turn the institution into a community center.
The Tri-City Empowerment Council, a nonprofit that Holman co-founded, is leading efforts to restore the building. The organization bought the building from Cuero Independent School District in January.
As a result, the organization inherited everything inside. The first step, she said, is to clean and clear out the building, which is filled with desks, chairs, textbooks and filing cabinets, as well as broken windows.
Some items will be sold, while others will be put to use for the center, she said. The funds earned from the sale will go toward rebuilding efforts, which will cost thousands of dollars.
Some of the remodeling expenses include installing multipurpose flooring in the gymnasium, new paint, windows, and a washer and dryer.
The biggest expense the organization faces is purchasing a fire alarm system, which will cost about $28,000, she said.
Holman said she is looking for people to donate both time and materials to make the center a reality. There is ownership when people build their own center, she said.
So far, she has had offers to power-wash the building and paint the exterior.
“I’m looking for people with expertise,” Holman said. “We’re going to have a whole wall to recognize everyone who helped make this building come alive again.”
Ramona Wallace and her husband, Jason, have been residents of Cuero for about a year and are helping Holman build up the center.
“Anything that involves children tugs at my heart,” she said.
Cuero is a small community, Ramona Wallace said, and while there are places for children’s activities, such as the Boys and Girls Club, there could be another option for children.
“Some kids can’t make it to that side of town, and it’s going to give kids a place to go,” she said.
The coordinator and family specialist for the Head Start program said she would also help with creating a menu for the center and cooking food. She hopes more people in the community will step up and support the community center.
“It’s for the community, and we need the community’s help. You don’t know what your community needs unless you say something, and I know Cuero is a small, tight-knit community, but we need the whole community,” she said. “In the long run, the center will help the community - it will help everybody.”
The building is home to about 15 rooms, and Holman has plans for each one.
There would be an alternating dance and karate studio; a theater class; a science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, room; and a day care.
Holman has also linked up with the city of Cuero to possibly have an extension of some city resources and a museum at the center.
Mayor Sara Post Meyer said the center presents an opportunity to reach more people in the community.
There would be representatives of departments, such as building codes, the fire department, police department and library, available at the center.
“It’s a wonderful mission to be able to reuse this school, which is so important to so many people in Cuero. Dr. Daule was an important educator in our community, so to be able to continue that tradition in our community is great,” she said.
Jesse Mathis, who attended the school, has hopes the center will also bring back a traditional community that looks out for one another.
The 73-year-old said that in his youth, when there was segregation, all the adults in the community took care of all the children.
Growing up in a close, caring neighborhood shaped Mathis into an active and involved member of the Cuero community.
“I can never forget the kind of community I grew up in. It made a lasting effect,” Mathis said. “It didn’t matter to the adults whose kids we were - it just mattered that we did better than they did.”
Mathis, who is also helping to rebuild the center, said the project would be a great place to help children of all ages and help guide teenagers. It would also help families become closer, he said.
“We’re hoping we can help turn someone’s life around and encourage the senior citizens to spend time with the youth and families the way they used to back in the day,” Mathis said.
Holman has a goal of having the building ready by Aug. 4.
All the work will be worth it, she said, because building community bonds and helping children is precious, priceless and vital to the town.
“I want everyone to come here and feel at home, because this is all our home,” she said.
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Information from: The Victoria Advocate, http://www.victoriaadvocate.com
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