Aaron Thakker and Robby Giffin have dreamed of bringing a one-stop shop for free resources to Eudora.
Once Eudorable’s former building at 710 Main St. went up for sale, Thakker ultimately decided a resource hub was perfect for downtown.
The space, now known as Anchored Collective, will house offices and meeting spaces for organizations offering free services, including Eudora Community Navigator Laura Smith. Furniture also will be for sale through the nonprofit Ready For Good, which helps teens learn job skills.
There will also be computers for residents needing to complete applications, or ask for help with where to find resources for their specific needs.
Giffin is the pastor at First Church of the Nazarene in Lawrence. He became a counselor to help people during life transitions, such as marriages, grief, job struggles or just emotional support.
“My dream here is that we would provide a place that could be kind of a hub for connecting people to some of those different – not just services – but also just people,” Giffin said. “I dream of having volunteers ready to just meet with people and just listen to people and care for people.”
Thakker stepped in to make their goals a possibility – and while supporting causes also important to him. Over the last year, Thakker and Giffin have been working on the idea.
Thakker said he always intended to provide the space at no cost to both the organizations and those using the services.
He’s been running the construction and helping design the space. It should be done by early November, he said.
Thakker is also involved with turning an old Super 8 motel in Lawrence into a drug and alcohol rehab center. His company ATEC Services is leading construction on that project as well.
Thakker said reminding kids that just because they have been in bad situations with family growing up, that doesn’t mean those situations have to continue forever.
That’s inspired him to do this work, especially as he went through similar situations himself. But ultimately this project was inspired by Giffin, he said.
Thakker has always had a heart for giving back, especially when it involves kids, his wife, Kore Thakker, said.
As Giffin prepares for the space to open, he also knows the needs for the community will ebb and flow. He’s hoping to bring in what is needed at the time.
“This dream actually was born out of our family’s own loss. Our youngest son passed away unexpectedly, and one thing that we experienced was lots of people – like we had so many friends, so many family members, so much community support, and that was huge in our healing process, and what we know, though, the majority of people don’t have that,” Giffin said.
When people do not have the support internally, sometimes they need to seek therapy or community support in other ways. If affordability is an issue, people may not look for those options, he said.
Spaces for area organizations will be free because Thakker wants to be able to provide help without organizations worrying about paying rent.
“We’ll donate the space for people that are actually donating services for Eudora,” Thakker said.
Thakker has hoped to provide Smith with a Eudora office for community navigator services since she got the position about three years ago.
Smith has an office in Lawrence through United Way, but often works in her car or another public place in Eudora since her work is focused in the area.
“I get a lot of calls from people that need to meet in a room in a safe place, people that need to meet to fill out a WIC application, or maybe something with DCF, like a SNAP application. We get some calls from Willow [Domestic Violence Center] needing safe places to meet for people that are experiencing domestic violence, this provides that for us,” she said. “It provides a safe place to meet.”
Smith said the office won’t change her goals, but it will make her more easily able to connect people she helps to countless other resources all housed in the same building. It provides that “next step” in people’s processes.
Often, people first present her with the issue that they feel most comfortable presenting, but after diving into those initial needs is when you get into the other resources and help they’re in need of, she said. This space gives her a chance to help further, she said.
The front of the building will be focused on Ready For Good, a nonprofit founded by Eudora residents Addison and Lydia Shockley.
The nonprofit furniture’s main location opened in Lawrence about two years ago and provides job and life skill experience for youth in either foster care or juvenile justice.
By working in the new location in Eudora, teens will get experience selling the items and working with customers in hopes of getting other jobs in the future.
“We have successfully had – even just in the two years that we’ve been going – multiple youth that have been able to have the desire and the drive after leaving us to go and get a job somewhere else in Lawrence,” Lydia Shockley said. “That’s the mission of the whole thing is to get these kids plugged in, give them job experience. A lot of them haven’t ever had a job before, or they just need someone that will be able to work with them.”
For now, Ready for Good will sell items on Saturdays, but could open for more hours in the future. They sell chairs, tables, tables, couches, tables, stools, lamps and other decor.
Anchored Collective will also provide a large room for various groups and meetings – whether it’s Narcotics Anonymous, Alcoholics Anonymous, mentor-type groups or other nonprofit organizations hoping to use the spaces for presentations and causes. The space can be used in the evenings for meetings, too, and can open up to the front section for more seating.
Four offices will be behind the conference room. One will be for Giffin and another for Smith, the rest will be determined as community needs are shown.
“The opportunity for a number of people who could come in and be a support to others is pretty infinite, really,” Giffin said.
Reach reporter Sara Maloney at [email protected].
To donate to support our community journalism, please go to this link: tinyurl.com/y4u7stxj
