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A need fulfilled

The county's All People's Life Center opens to rave reviews.

By AMANDA PALLESCHI
Published March 30, 2007

TAMPA - For Andrea "Andie" Hardee, a track athlete from Seffner, it meant a chance to try pingpong.

For Cindy Hardee, Andie's mom, it offered a chance for more physical therapy for her 16-year-old daughter, who has cerebral palsy and is legally blind.

And Vi Vorasane, 38, of St. Petersburg finally had a place where his wheelchair rugby team could hold tournaments with two games going at once.

But for Melinda Wheatley, senior recreation therapist with Hillsborough County's Therapeutic Recreation Services, Thursday night's open house at the All People's Life Center's new $8.5 million facility at 6105 E Sligh Ave. was a need fulfilled.

As she watched a Special Olympic volleyball team practice, she recalled all of the other facilities these teams had used.

"We had to beg, borrow and steal other facilities," she said. "We had to fight for this."

The 45,000-square-foot facility opened Thursday, becoming Hillsborough's largest recreational building.

The families who came through its doors passed the old 3,500-square-foot facility that had been home to summer camps and afterschool programs for people with special needs for 10 years. It's a dwarf beside a shiny new giant.

Now, the All People's Life Center will be able to better serve the county and organizations such as Special Olympics and Blaze-Sports, said Marcia Mejia, the county's community relations coordinator.

It has classrooms, a dance room, a weight room, meeting space and locker rooms, all built with the needs of the center's patrons in mind - sinks with room for a wheelchair, extra wide gym sidelines and counters low enough for all to reach.

County Commission Chairman Jim Norman pushed for the center and said he knew how much it was needed.

"A lot of these kids have never tried athletics because there weren't facilities for them," he said.

[Last modified March 30, 2007, 00:46:40]