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PAYNEVILLE, Minn. (AP) — It's about 3:30 in the afternoon on a warm spring day. As Mary Jane Kane approaches the Uzone in Paynesville, kids press their faces to window screens, shouting, "Hi, Mary Jane!"
"Hi!" she responds, laughing, as she tries to continue answering questions.
Kane is explaining the purpose of the community-oriented after-school and summer program that she oversees as the director of youth and family ministries of Grace United Methodist Church.
The home next to the Paynesville middle and high school is bustling as kids pile outside, arguing about what sporting equipment they'll get to use that afternoon. The entrance is filled with shoes and backpacks that visitors carefully step over. It opens into a kitchen where popcorn is being prepared as an afternoon snack. Inside, adolescents stumble over each other in the small house that serves as second home to many.
The program was the brainchild of Kane's predecessor, Linda Jensen.
"She wanted to provide a safe place for kids to go after school and hang out," Kane said. She based it on the idea that a lot of kids go home to empty houses, while a parent or parents work.
"So we wanted to provide people that would be there for them, and talk with them, and help them with their homework," Kane said.
After school is when families do the most talking, Kane said. So at Uzone they try to get the homework out of the way, so when students go home with their families they can spend time together.
Kane is in her first year in the position at the church. A former teacher, she said her current job is the best of all worlds.
"It's the best part of that. I don't have to discipline. It's really fun to be with the kids and be included in their lives. You can watch them grow," she told the St. Cloud Times (http://on.sctimes.com/1ra3n3A).
Organizers strive to keep the place feeling like a home. For some of the children, that's what they need, said AnnMarie Stevens, chairwoman of the Uzone executive board. So many kids say they like the way it feels to know there's someone there, she said. Uzone has seen close to 20,000 visits in seven years, about 3,200 visits each year. The program served 123 kids from 98 families in the 2012-13 school year. The kids who entered Uzone as sixth-graders that first year are graduating this year.
Senior Ember Veldkamp has been coming to the drop-in program since sixth grade.
"When I'd go home, I'd just sit at home alone," Veldkamp said. "Coming here, there's people to talk to, some that actually knew how to help me with homework. ... There's just people. I didn't have to be all by myself all the time."
Staffers like to have something baking or cooking each afternoon, so there is some sort of treat for the students to enjoy. Staff always try to have something free on hand, she said, because some of the students couldn't afford to pay.
One reason the Uzone board chose to stay in that location is that it is a home, Stevens said.
"That is the biggest thing we want kids to realize in this place — it's like being in a home," she said, as boys come crashing through the kitchen door with giggles.
"As you can see, we have easy access, right to the high school," Stevens said. "Another reason we stayed: location, location, location."
Attendance varies depending on the sports seasons, and they'll get a different mix of kids depending on the time of year.
During football and basketball season, Uzone stays open a little later so kids can come, have a meal and go back to school to watch the game.
"They always come knowing a few people, and they always end up knowing more," Kane said.
"Or bring more," Stevens said.
The house has computer stations, video games, quiet study rooms, a kitchen, a living room area, a fridge with snacks and beverages for purchase, as well as plenty of space outdoors for activities. Sometimes, Uzone will have bonfires, tailgate parties and Halloween parties.
The walls are painted in varying themes, one in camouflage honoring a student who died in a four-wheeling accident, another with Paynesville bulldog school spirit and another with Bible verses.
"Our community has been very supportive, too," Stevens said. "We get a lot of positive feedback."
Uzone is financed through community donations from churches, the Paynesville Area Community Foundation and others. The program is covered under the church's insurance policy and under the church's 501(c)(3) status. The reason is practical — it's less expensive to buy that policy under the church than on its own.
On the other hand, Kane said, it's more difficult to find funding through grants and other sources because it is under the church umbrella.
"That's part of my job, finding grants and applying for them," she said.
"But it's also a separate entity," Kane said. "This is very much a community place."
Uzone operates on about $38,000 year, most of that going to staff salaries. In the fall, Uzone will be the recipient of the foundation's annual gala.
Lou Louis was part of the foundation's gala board that heard Uzone's presentation to vie for the funding.
"A lot of it, they were selected for what they were doing with youth, providing a safe environment for the kids after school with tutoring and homework help," Louis said. "I think, too, we were impressed by the fact that they provide this environment, a homey, comforting place for kids to gather, besides offering the homework help and the tutoring in the summertime. ... It's a good asset to our community."
Louis said community interaction and the development of leadership qualities were key. The board also was impressed by the goals for the future, including building up a summer recreation program starting this summer.
Uzone also benefits from an ongoing program with Teal's where it receives 1 percent of the total of receipts submitted to them. On one of the tables in the living room sits a stack of receipts to be totaled up for the program.
"We're up to about $1,800 a year," Kane said.
A youth-led advisory board makes recommendations on how to spend $700 each year. Some goes to special events or parties.
Last year, the kids decided to donate some of it to a family sponsored through a high school teacher for Christmas. The students also decided to support a class in which students learn about leadership skills and how to integrate everyone in their class. The youth board also donated to an event called Food for Kids.
In addition to the after-school program, Uzone has a summer tutoring program for elementary through high school students. Kane said 10 tutors have signed up. The program usually serves 17 to 20 kids.
Tutor Ginni Kerzman said she really appreciates helping kids with their homework and seeing them succeed when they struggled before.
"I just really like the idea of making a difference, helping kids succeed and helping them see that education is important."
One of the people who plans to tutor this summer uses a wheelchair, and Uzone needed a ramp to accommodate her. Kane knew the Paynesville Lions Club could help.
"I made a phone call just saying what would I need, how would I build a ramp," Kane said. "The next thing I knew they were asking for ... money for the building permit. And it was up. I was wowed by how quick that happened."
Within two weeks it was up, Kane said.
The project took six people about four hours, said Earl Brown, a Lion and retired building contractor from Paynesville.
"Being Lions, we like to help everybody in the community that needs help," Brown said.
Kane said Uzone has very few rules: no swearing, dressing appropriately and being kind to each other among them.
"They usually just enjoy being here," Kane said. "We have very few problems. ... It's another adult family to connect with in a good way."
Students can learn practical life skills. One student who needed to learn how to tie a tie learned it there.
"When we talk about that, that's practical life situations," Stevens said.
For example, last fall, the Uzone got a large donation of apples.
"So they peeled, and they diced and they froze and they canned, and they did all these things with apples, trying to show the kids, 'This is what you can do when you're given lots of things,' " Kane said.
Stevens said kids also learn to make do with what's given to them, another life skill they can use. Kids can see that being a family doesn't include shouting, Kane said. It can be respectful and they can look for opportunities to be kind and communicate in different ways. Kane can share stories of students whose grades turned around simply because they had someone at Uzone checking that their homework was completed.
Then there's the fun stuff, like a boy asking a girl to prom using no-bake cookies.
"We do have some stories like that, and we have some stories where kids don't feel like they belong," Stevens said. "They keep coming here because they are treated respectfully. They have a sense of belonging."
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Information from: St. Cloud Times, http://www.sctimes.com
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