On Saturday morning, preparation work began at 141 Mulberry Street for the Youth Voice nonprofit. The Dyess We Care team usually focuses on renovation projects for homes, but project co-lead Doc Weaver mentioned that this year, they wanted to start off with a bang.
“We sometimes remodel and repaint some houses. But Gordon found this nugget and was like, ‘We’re going to start the year with a big bang. So, we’re just doing a big building,'” Weaver recalled.
The building was formerly a fire station that the nonprofit moved into in September 2024. Executive Director of Youth Voice, Ben Siburte, said that though the location of the Youth Voice may have changed, inside the four walls is a community that has been fostered through the years.
“We’ve had the honor to have a front-row seat, to watch the community that our teenagers have created. In that community, I think people have been here regularly, and they’ve found a safe place. They’ve been able to kind of stop listening to some of the noise in their life and hear their own voice on what they want to do,” Siburte shared.
When Dyess received the project, co-lead Damian Laguna was excited to give back to an organization he wished had existed while he was growing up.
“It is really important that they have a good space to grow up and to develop correctly. Because if not, that can severely affect how they mature into adults,” Laguna said. “It’s nice to be able to just eat hot meals… Honestly, it was really the eating part that I didn’t get to do much of [growing up].”
The renovations go beyond a simple makeover; Siburte described them as an extension of their mission to provide a safe space filled with new opportunities.
“It’s going to create a lot of opportunities for students to want to be here, from learning how to cook a meal in the kitchen to having a meaningful conversation in a room that’s been decorated just for them, to learning how to play the guitar in the music room that Dyess is helping to decorate,” Siburte said.
Dyess We Care will continue working on the building throughout the month. The team also recently earned national recognition on CNN for their impactful home renovation efforts in the Key City.
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