NEW PHILADELPHIA (Tusco TV) - The Noah's Hope Child Advocacy Center director is revealing how a recent move is making a difficult situation a little more comfortable for abused children and their families.

Mandy Prosser says the center is now open for business at its new headquarters on East High Avenue. She says the spacious new facility with its homelike amenities is a vision that has been years in the making. 

"We have a ton of room, which is something that is very different from our previous space. So in here, we have a waiting room, and we have what is set up kind of like a dining room, and this is where we meet with the actual parent, so that’s away from the children so they don't’ have to hear everything that’s going on in adult conversation."

Other features of the new building include a large conference room, a back patio, and a full-service kitchen complete with a refrigerator, microwave, and stovetop oven. Prosser says they’ve always had snacks, but now they can give the kids something more substantial.   

"Sometimes the kids, they might be in JFS custody so maybe the foster parent brings them down and they could be placed a couple hours away, an hour away. So by the time they come, they do the interview, it would if we were able to serve them lunch before they have to get back in the car and drive, so that’s something that we’re now gonna be able to do."  

Prosser says the building also has additional office space and a second interview room for cases involving multiple children.

"If there’s siblings or something and we need to interview somebody at the same time because it’s an emergency, this allows us to run two interviews at the same time."

Prosser says the project was made possible through grants and donations, along with the hard work of many volunteers and community partners. 

"Buckeye was able to do all of the work for us so then we only had the cost of the materials, and then we have received grants from different community agencies so those grants allowed us to pay for the materials that we needed. There were also a lot of things like lighting that had to be added so if it weren’t for the grants we received we wouldn’t have been able to do that." 

With the move from downtown now complete, Prosser says their next projects include putting up new siding, installing a privacy fence and sign, and decorating the building's interior walls. She says people can help by making a monetary donation, volunteering their time, or donating materials.  

STACEY CARMANY, TUSCO TV