By VERNON ROBISON
Moapa Valley Progress
Some major changes were announced last week for the Cappalappa Family Resource Center in Overton. And they are changes for the good.
First off, the organization – considered the ‘One-Stop Shop’ for family services in Moapa Valley – has become a proud homeowner. The Cappalappa board recently voted to purchase the building where it has had its offices for nearly a decade.
Secondly, the organization is rebranding, changing its name from Cappalappa FRC to Moapa Valley Family Resource Center (MVFRC).
MVFRC Director Penny Vallone said that the name change has been on the to-do list for a long time. “We don’t really know why it was called Cappalappa in the first place, or what the origin of that was,” she said. “But we feel like the new name better reflects what we do and the community that we serve. It just makes things simpler.”
A ceremonial ribbon cutting was held outside the newly-purchased MVFRC offices on Friday, Nov. 15 to celebrate the changes. MV Chamber of Commerce board members, MVFRC staff and other members of the public gathered for the event.
“We were excited that we had gotten to the point where we could buy the building,” said MVFRC Board President Norita Espinosa. “It’s a big deal for us. So even though it isn’t a new office, we wanted to celebrate a little bit.”
Espinosa explained that the board had been informed by the property owner earlier this year that there was an intention to sell the building.
“He was very nice to us and offered us the first right of refusal on it,” said Vallone. “He also gave us a good deal on it as well.”
“We realized though that if we didn’t buy the place, and it sold to someone else, we might have no place else to go,” Vallone added. “It may have ended up with us having to close our doors.”
The large building has allowed the center to run its Thrift Store operation onsite. More than half of the space is used as retail area for the store.
Espinosa said that the Thrift Store has been integral to the survival of the center. “It is really the Thrift Store that has saved us,” she said.
Espinosa said that over the past decade, as public budgets have tightened, the center has seen grants from the state and county be reduced again and again.
“We deeply appreciate those grants and they still help us immensely,” Norita said. “But alone they are not enough to keep us going. So I have to applaud the vision of Penny (Vallone) in opening the Thrift Store.”
Vallone passed most of that credit on to the community. “People in town have been very generous in their donations to the Thrift Store over the years, and in their patronage of the store,” she said. “We appreciate that. It has made our important work here possible.”
Espinosa explained that it was proceeds from Thrift Store sales, saved up over many years, that have provided a large down-payment on the downtown property.
But now the focus of the MVFRC board is on the future. The board has a goal to pay off the loan on their building within the next five years. For that, they will need the increased support from the Moapa Valley community, Espinosa said.
“In the past several years, we haven’t asked a lot from the community in terms of fundraising,” Espinosa added. “But our plea is now for the community to help us out and keep us in operation to continue to provide these needed services.”
In the coming months, MVFRC will be holding a series of community fundraisers to help provide for some of the center’s basic needs. The center is hoping to establish a more focused approach from the community in these efforts.
“The community has been so good to us and we know that they are behind us and want to help,” Vallone said. “Folks donate generously to our Thrift Store and our Food Pantry is always full. In fact, at this time of year it is bursting at the seams with all of the food drives going on.”
All of those efforts are appreciated. But with its new obligations, and with grant funding ever shrinking, the center needs more monetary donations from the community it serves.
Currently the Thrift Store is running an initiative where small dollar donations can be made to help with building repairs and improvements. Special cards may be purchased which are then posted on the Thrift Store wall with the donor’s name written on it. A paint can card is $5 and a paint brush card is $1.
“Every little bit helps,” Vallone said. “We have already raised more than $100 just in a couple of days with that. It will help us to spruce up this old building.”
The details of additional fundraising effort will be announced as they become available.
“We are not going anywhere,” Espinosa said. “We have been here for many years and will continue to be here for the long term. But we have a lot of work to do in helping those in need. There is no one else in town that would take care of those needs if we weren’t here. So we are just asking for the community’s help so we can keep doing it.”
“Our mantra to the community has long been ‘If you take care of it (the MVFRC), it will take care of you’,” Vallone said. “That is true now more than ever.”
