Benton Harbor Logan Center dedicating classroom to community partner

BENTON HARBOR, Mich.-The Logan Center in Benton Harbor will dedicate a classroom to a fellow community partner on Wednesday.

A $30,000 gift from the United Federal Credit Union will pay for a classroom for children with autism and expanding autism services to families in Southwest Michigan.

The center opened in September 2016 and is currently serving more than 150 clients.

UFCU launched a campaign in October called “YOU COLOR, U DONATE.” The credit union handed out coloring sheets to children in the community in an effort to raise more awareness about autism.

The children’s artwork, which symbolizes the complexities of autism, will be used to decorate the walls inside “The Blue Room”.

“Really what this is at the end of the day is kiddos helping kiddos,” said Pat Roemer, Director of Development. “Kids are coloring in the pages and learning more about autism and understanding that this is a very worthy cause.”

For every colored sheet, UFCU will donate $1 to the Logan Center. The center says they’ve received more than 350 pages.

The gift will go towards the remaining credit of their renovation costs. $1.6 million was put into the center. $1.4 million of that money was donated by community partners. The organization is working to pay off the remaining $200,000 with help from the community.

“I want a lot of this to be from the community and the people who have a buy-in so they can say look, I understand autism is something that affects my community,” Roemer said. “That’s exactly what United is helping us kick off here.”

The room will be dedicated at 2 P.M.

For more information or to donate to the Logan Center, click HERE.