Goshen Valley Foundation Opens Renovated Family Resource Center

CANTON — The Goshen Family Resource Center in Canton is now fully renovated to offer more services to the community.

The center, located at 230 Marietta Highway in Canton, was renovated by The Goshen Valley Foundation, a local nonprofit focused on helping children in foster care.

The building has been used for the nonprofit’s Goshen Therapeutic Services, which started in 2019. The center has created 22 full-time jobs, said Zach Blend, the nonprofit’s CEO.

The foundation bought the 6,500 square-foot building in November 2022 for $1.2 million. It was previously used as an orthopedic office and rehabilitation center. Since the purchase, the foundation has worked to renovate the building , making it suitable to provide mental health and family support to prevent families from experiencing a crisis, lowering rates of addiction and self-harm in the community.

“This building represents a $2.1 million capital campaign that Goshen was able to complete debt free,” said Evan Ingram, director of development at Goshen Valley.

The goal of the center is to expand the foundation’s services and establish a professional, welcoming space for members of the community to receive these therapeutic and family services with coordinated access to other holistic, preventative services provided by the Goshen Valley Foundation and other community nonprofits, according to the foundation website.

The center features a food pantry, rooms and spaces for play therapy, art therapy, individual and family counseling, indoor supervised visitation, outdoor supervised visitation next to a mural painted by CCSD students, large group meeting space and offices for staff and case management, Blend said.

The center also has a playground, built by Infinity Roofing and Renovations, Blend said.

“The purchase of this center was made possible through partnership, commitment and investment by Cherokee County, specifically our government and commissioners who used $700,000 of (American Rescue Plan Act) funds to help us transform this building that was dated, half empty and underutilized to turn it into something important to help families that are in need of support and connection here in this community,” he said. “What you see today is vastly different from what I walked into a few years ago. The entire building has been renovated from the roofs to the HVAC system, to the paint, to the flooring, to the decor. Our ability to do that work was hand in hand with our friends from Infinity Roofing and Renovations.”

Blend added that Outspoken Signs also played a part in the creation of the center through the signage seen throughout the building.

Part of the renovations to the center also included renovating the parking lot and road leading to the center, Blend said.

“This was also an opportunity for us to show dignity to our neighbors at Northwood Apartments and at Cameron Hall,” he said. “We wanted to make sure that we cared about their needs as well. So, we repaved the roads and filled in the potholes to make for a safer environment. We also put in a bus stop to create a space for the children so they can wait safely for the school bus to arrive.”

“We care about the health and wellness of this community,” said Stacy Sabaka, executive director of GTS. “We focus on helping children and their families cope with traumatic experiences, but over the years, we have expanded our services to meet more needs.”

Resource Center Coordinator Dana Zehner added that “at our resource center, we welcome anyone in the community that has a direct need.”

For more information about the center, visit goshenvalley.org/family-resource-center .