Published: August 28, 2008 11:49 pm      

GreenHouse needing larger facility

The GreenHouse has outgrown its current facility, district attorney Kermit McManus says.

The non-profit organization is in a 1,700-square-foot house off East Morris Street donated by Mohawk Industries. In April, the Whitfield County Board of Commissioners gave approximately two acres of land just north of the county health department to the organization. Now, officials with the GreenHouse are looking toward a fundraising capital campaign to build a new facility.

The GreenHouse provides a safe place where child victims of physical and sexual abuse in Whitfield and Murray counties can be counseled, interviewed by a trained child forensic interviewer and videotaped to assist criminal investigations, McManus said.

“The new facility is going to allow greater use of those types of services,” McManus said.

Plans are to have two separate interview rooms (one for young children and one for older children), larger therapy rooms to serve more children and medical facilities.

“A lot of these kids need to have a medical examination,” McManus said. “We don’t have a medical component in our current GreenHouse. The new one will have a medical component where children can be examined.”

The GreenHouse also provides therapy for abused children — “some need a lot, some need very little” — with a therapist to make a clinical determination whether a child needs therapy and then provide it free of charge, he said.

The GreenHouse is an extension of the Conasauga Circuit District Attorney’s Victim/Witness Assistance Program and is a member of the Children’s Advocacy Centers of Georgia. The center operates as a part of the district attorney’s office, which provides funding, but also with a separate 501(c)3 board of directors called Friends of the GreenHouse Inc. This allows community, corporate, and individual support for service.

To help raise money for the organization, The GreenHouse will host the “Motor Mania 2008” fundraiser on Saturday, Sept. 27, at the North Georgia Fairgrounds from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Tickets are $10. Motor Mania will have a family-oriented atmosphere with many activities in addition to the car show, awards and car corral.

Officials with the organization are focusing on the car show and say the capital campaign kickoff for the new facility could be delayed for several months, possibly until early next year, because of the “current status of the economy,” McManus said. He expects to have several diagrams and perhaps a model of the new facility at the car show.

“After we get through with the car show, we’ll make the decision on when to start the actual capital campaign,” McManus said. “It may be pushed back because of the financial setbacks we’re all experiencing and the downturn in the economy.”

Live music will be provided by local band The Brookwoods. The Crime Scene Unit from the Dalton Police Department will set up a simulated crime scene and the department’s Fatal Vision drunk-driving awareness simulator will be running. The Dalton Fire Department will perform vehicle extrication rescue demonstrations, while the Georgia State Patrol’s SWAT team also will put on a demonstration. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s bomb squad unit will show its equipment. There also will be the Lowe’s Hero Children workshop, three large inflatable play areas and other activities for children.

For information, contact the GreenHouse at (706) 278-4769.