Family Resource Center of Northeast Georgia (FRC) has extended its reach to underserved families in need by opening a new Banks County facility, located at 151 Athens St. in Homer.
Housed in an old church built in the 1800s, the Alliance Community Center opened in March of 2024 after the property was purchased by Homer’s Downtown Development Authority and then leased by FRC.
With a vision to deliver support to families in Banks, Kellie Jones, a board member of Homer’s Downtown Development Authority, partnered with FRC’s Executive Director Linda Johnson as a key coordinator in the project. Before it opened, Jones moved to revive the building, replacing the floors, patching walls, painting, renovating the kitchen and bringing the place back to life.
Then the vision started to come to life.
“In Banks County, there’s no central place for parents to get resources,” Jones said. “People on Facebook are always asking, ‘Where is there a food bank? Can I get diapers? Can I get formula?’ That’s my vision is to have a place where these families can come.”
Since last year, the center is becoming that central location for at-risk families to find relief, resources and support as well as counseling for children from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. on Wednesday and Friday.
Going forward, both Johnson and Jones will work to see Jones’ vision expand.
“We do want to help resource (the Alliance Center) to start their own Family Resource Center, so (Jones) can do more services for families because they desperately need it here,” Johnson said. “(Jones) will be the point person for Banks County…we’re going to help them develop their own center – their own nonprofit – and we’ll resource them.”
Through the new facility, Johnson explained that FRC has a closer proximity to the families they already serve in Banks County. With a staff of about a dozen, FRC can now rotate social workers in that area more effectively.
“I’m very excited about this,” Johnson said. “We knew there was a need in Banks, but the more we’re in Banks, the more we realize that the need is greater than we anticipated and that there’s so few resources…we have people (we serve) in Banks that have to drive to Habersham, so we’ll be able to offer parenting classes here. We’d also like to develop a supervised visitation center for families here.”
For now, as Jones intended, the center remains a space for the community to obtain resources through public events and seek support.
“If teachers wanted to come in and have training for abused kids or anybody else, I want them to know they can come here,” Jones said.
Banks County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Chris Coombes, who happened to walk into the facility Friday, April 18, agreed there is a need for greater resources for children and families in the area.
“We’re constantly giving out carseats to needy families,” he said. “We average about 15-20 carseats annually…that number is probably going to go up.”
Events
In the coming months, Jones has planned a series of events intended to bring resources for families at the facility, including:
- A mother-daughter event on May 16.
- A superhero event for fathers and children in June
- A back-to-school bash on Aug. 2.
