River Valley family crisis support nonprofit to reopen with new location

FORT SMITH, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — The River Valley non-profit organization, The Call in Crawford and Sebastian Counties, is set to reopen at a new location after two years of planning.

The grand reopening and ribbon cutting is set for Wednesday at 10 a.m. on North Greenwood Avenue in Fort Smith.

According to its website , The CALL aims to bring awareness about the needs of children and families in crisis.

“It has been a total game changer,” said Merissa Carter, a foster and adoptive parent.

Since 2017, Carter has fostered and adopted children across Crawford County. This is all with the help of The Call in Crawford and Sebastian Counties.

“I’ve gotten calls to take children that come with just the clothes on their backs because they get out of the home so fast, and I will always be able to call,” said Carter.

“We did not realize what the need was here. And so, within the first year, we outgrew it,” said Treadaway.

After two years of planning and borrowing buildings, the non-profit now has its own location.

They’ve worked with the Department of Human Services, to bring more than 300 family visitations. She says it was harder to meet everyone’s needs, so they chose the new location.

“The caseworker would drive around to all these different cities and counties and then bring them all back to Fort Smith for their visits. It was just a huge need that we were filling and Fort Smith is kind of in between,” said Treadaway.

She says the new location will be able to offer more volunteer opportunities for students and those in the community. Both Treadaway and Carter hope it will bring more resources and a welcoming environment.

“Hundreds of families a year will be using this space, and we want it to feel very homelike so that when they come in, they’re comfortable,” said Treadaway.

“I’m super excited because it’s going to be able to help way more families than they could before,” said Carter.

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