Share
At a time when many nonprofits are struggling, Thompson Child & Family Focus has reached its $10 million capital campaign goal, the Charlotte-based agency announced recently.
The agency launched its “Heroic Measures” campaign in October 2007. Because of the campaign's success, Thompson built a new early childhood services center on its Clanton Road campus and has begun expansion plans at its Saint Peter's Lane campus in Matthews.
“We are fortunate that so many businesses, organizations and individuals stepped forward with generosity,” said Ginny Amemdum, Thompson's president. “The children and families served by Thompson are very often in dire situations that can't be put on hold. There was no way we could tell our families to wait because times were tough. Their whole lives are tough times.”
Thompson, founded as an orphanage in 1886 by the Episcopal Church, has evolved over the years into a provider of clinical and behavioral treatment, developmental education and care for at-risk children and their families. The agency runs four campuses, including a center in Matthews for children with serious mental illnesses and a facility uptown that provides support for needy families.
The new 24,000-square-foot early childhood development center opened in March, using a little more than half of the money raised in the campaign. It can serve as many as 150 children from birth to age 5, and their families. The school replaces the Thompson Center Child Development Center that operated in the NoDa community for nearly 10 years.
The new center is state-of-the-art with fenced outdoor learning spaces for each classroom, an art and drama lab, a therapy room for children with special needs and multipurpose room for family functions, graduations, rainy day play and celebrations.
