The Center

"I had lived my entire life in Midland Heights Homes up until the time I was married. At that time, I had nothing but praise for that place and the way it was run and taken care of. I have so many HAPPY memories of growing up in that area. I lived in what was then called "The spur" area and this is not a lie. Our entire neighborhood was one big happy family. We would celebrate EVERYONE who lived there their birthday in both winter and fall. We had our own melting pot of all nationalities which made for some delicious block parties. Everyone would bring nationality food, and it certainly tasted delicious. People would play practical jokes on each other and it was taken in the way it was meant to be. No one ever got angry when the practical jokes were played on you. You just plotted how you could get back at those people with even better jokes that were played on you. Everyone kept their eyes on other people kids and would either correct them themselves and then told them to go home and tell their parents what had been done to correct their misbehaviors to their parents. Nine out of ten times, the child would not even mention what they had done wrong because they KNEW they would end up being punished even worse from their parents if they found out what they had done to someone else that they knew was wrong. The entire neighborhood would watch each other's children if their parents had things that needed done. We truly lived in a village mentality when it was said it takes a village to raise a child. Our neighbors would each bring covered dishes and a couple of families would provide the meats and usually cook stuff on the grills. We had our own little swimming hole( really just a spring water hole where we built damns . All the kids were allowed to play outside until the lights came on, then you better be in your home. UNLESS someone had a birthday and then the whole neighborhood would pitch in different foods so we could all celebrate their birthdays, anniversaries, etc with each other. Small gifts were presented, often gag gifts and once again everyone would try to top the others with better gag gifts. I do not remember WHAT year our neighborhood was celebrating my father's birthday, which happened to come on flag day. The best gag gift that sticks in my mind is one that was given to my dad, decorated quite nicely. The neighbor lady decided she would bake him a really cool looking birthday cake. My memory prevents me from remembering exactly how it was decorated, I only remembered it looked delicious and the decorations looked quite unique. Finally after eating cookout food, it was time to cut into his cake. He went to cut the cake so that everyone who wanted some of it they could. The expression on his face was entirely worth it. She has put fancy icing all over a big empty box, ( probably ) the size used for slacks, do a good sized box. Beautifully decorated cake that everyone truly thought she had outdone herself that time. It was hilarious to watch him TRYING to cut up that beautiful cake. We just were lucky to have lived in such a fantastic area. All the kids could play in the playgrounds or on the baseball/football fields. In the summertime the playgrounds had games to play, were taught different arts and crafts, and were even taught to play chess, hopscotch, checkers,etc. Then all the playgrounds would compete against all the other playgrounds against each other. Will never forget the year I was the best hopscotch player in the entire town of Midland. I think I was probably 11 years old and was crowned the hopscotch queen of Midland. One of my school mates was the best chess player in town, etc. IT was so AWESOME to grow up in the ,"Spur section " of Midland. NOW rent has practically doubled, very few neighbors even know their neighbor's names, / let alone associate with them. How truly sad that makes me now."

"I donated a lot of items, and Brittany and her helper were extremely friendly and helpful. They even unloaded the car for me. I'll definitely donate again. We communicated over email, and she was very quick in responding back each time. Thank you for making donating easy....A++++"

"Christian based, kid friendly, volunteers are AMAZING, field trips, food and snacks provided, teaching kids good morals"

"The Center has grown organically resulting from two people loving God and loving their neighbors. Encouraging faith and character in children to young adults has been transforming generations of kids giving them hope and worth. If we love people's children the parents will come...and if parents come the entire town transforms. The Center has and is lifting Midland like few organizations in it's same category."

"Mr. Cory and Mrs. Jen and Four mile church are some wonderful people. I love them very much! They are a wonderful blessing to the midland community!"