Tucson community center needs thousands of dollars in repairs to reopen

TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) - A place that has served the Tucson community for decades now needs help to reopen its doors.

The Huff Community Center on Tucson’s south side has been forced to stop services because its building is in dire need of repairs.

The center has provided food, clothing, and shelter to people in Tucson for more than 70 years. Right now, the doors are closed because the building needs about $100,000 in repairs.

″The longer that we wait or don’t offer the services, the more impact it has on the community, those people who would receive our services,” said Ann Mitchell, Recording Secretary for the Huff Community Center Board of Directors.

The Huff Community Center used to have lines of people out the door, but now it sits empty. Years of wear, plus the recent rains have made the damage inside and outside of the building worse.

″If we could just get the roof, the ceiling, the wiring, the lighting back, we would be able to open the doors,” she explained.

Because so many repairs are needed, the center had to stop providing the services it offers. One of the biggest things the Huff Community Center provided was nutritional food boxes.

″People that are in the community or people who just stopped in, they could just stop in and we would have a hot meal for them,” said Mary Holmes, President of the Missions Department. “Especially with the prices of food going up, I think that was helping them out a lot.”

The goal of the Huff Community Center has always been to help people get a better quality of life and change the community for the better.

So many in the community have benefited from the center over more than 70 years. Robert Page is just one person whose life has been changed by the center. He now is part of the Board of Directors.

″This has given me the opportunity to reestablish myself here back in the community and do whatever I can to help,” Page said.

Now the community center needs a helping hand to get back into the community and provide for the community. Leaders at the center have set up a fundraiser to help pay for the repairs.

″The more people that know about it, the more people that can help and get help. We hope the word gets out,” said Pastor Alvin Mitchell.

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