BONHAM, Tex. (KXII) – The Fannin County Children’s Center has announced a brand new facility thanks to a generous land donation.
“It’s going to help kids for years to come,” executive director at the Fannin County Children’s Center, Sandy Barber, said
Barber said the eight acres of land will allow for their new center was donated by Roy and Jan Reimer, who live in California.
The land is near the corner of Albert Broadfoot and War Path in Bonham.
They said the Reimers originally wanted to put a housing development there, but they decided to donate it instead.
“I’ve never actually met the man but I called him up and just said ‘hey would you be interested in talking to us’?” Barber said.
Barber said they have been in their current building since 2003, and have been looking for a place to build a new facility for over two years.
“Our current facility, we’ve outgrown it, we’ve added staff to keep up with the growing demand for services, and we are just cramped as all get out,” Barber said.
The children’s center is a non-profit that serves to promote safety and improve the lives of abused and neglected children.
“Sadly the increase for our services has been going up for the last couple of years, but we’ve been able to rise to that challenge,” Barber said.
President of McCraw Oil, Bill Wilson, is the facility chairman and said it has taken a lot of research.
“There’s a lot of technology that goes into this building, we need forensic interviewing rooms, sound-proofing and all sorts of little details that you might not need in a typical commercial office building,” Wilson said.
Wilson said the next steps are to find an architect and get a floor plan in place.
Barber said they are still working on a date for when construction will start.
