When the dismissal bell rang at Scranton High School on Thursday, students could walk to the NEPA Youth Shelter’s Teen Center down the street and through its doors.
Officials of the center on Providence Road hosted a grand re-opening, showing off the new home of its after-school drop-in program after almost a year of construction.
“The real highlight of the day is for the kids,” executive director John Rosengrant said. “They’re going to be amazed. We were really secretive with the big reveal for them.”
A crowd of supporters, public officials, board members and volunteers walked past art-covered walls, a living room, a clothing closet, a food pantry and other features to get to the freshly completed kitchen and meeting room that form the center's heart.
Bright, hexagonal LED lights illuminated countertops and tables where students from Scranton High School and West Scranton High School could gather after classes.
Staff and volunteers wore white NEPA Youth Shelter T-shirts and watched people file into the space they worked on for months.
An unexpected surprise
Anthony Pauline came to the teen center as a student. He graduated last year, but biked there daily over the summer to help finish setting up and hand out snacks and food to students when the school year started.
“If I hadn’t gone to the teen center, I wouldn’t be here,” he said. “It’s changed me a lot.”
Pauline cut the ribbon to officially open the new center.
“I didn’t know I was going to do that,” he said.
Officials like Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti and state Sen. Marty Flynn welcomed the crowd and congratulated Rosengrant on finishing the project he inherited from shelter founder Maureen Maher-Grey.
Maher-Gray retired earlier this year, but Rosengrant made sure to livestream the ceremony so she could see it.
“That was really important for us, to just show her the crowd and how beautiful this building came out,” he said. “She started this, I just finished it.”
City donation helped
Cognetti said the city donated $30,000 to help the complete construction “as close to the beginning of school as possible.”
“It is such a key component of keeping our youth afloat and making sure they have the foundation underneath them to be successful,” she said.
Ready to serve
Maher-Gray founded the shelter in 2016 to help homeless young people find affordable housing. It opened the teen center to create a safe space for Scranton and West Scranton high school teens.
Melba Fialko, a volunteer, said she’s been there since the beginning, cooking meals, getting to know teens, and helping however she can.
She said Thursday’s re-opening felt like seeing “Maureen’s dream come to fruition.”
“I’ve been part of it … in two different buildings,” she said. “And to have a building that finally is designed like we like it, to have the huge kitchen area … that’s what we needed.”
On the menu
She planned to serve Nina’s pizza, chicken nuggets and french fries for the first after-school dinner.
“I can’t wait for three o’clock,” she said. “We’ve been out on the street every day for the last two months. I can’t wait to bring them in and really see it.”
The search for a new home started in May 2024, when Meals on Wheels NEPA decided to sell the shelter’s original building on Wyoming Avenue. Maher-Gray found the Providence Road location, across the street from the Glider Diner, by November.
Expecting more visitors
Luis Torres manages facilities at the teen center. Normally, 60 to 70 kids drop by after school. Torres thinks that number will increase because the center is so close to Scranton High School.
“I’m just excited to see all the kids come in and just be here and have a place to hang out,” he said.
Assistant executive director Janell Johnson saw the crowd as evidence of the community's excitement.
“I’m mostly excited because a lot of the services that we provided in our old space, we had to put to a halt,” she said. “Now that we’re opening up in this new space with new teens, we’ll be able to start that process again, especially with our mental wellness program and our housing program.”
Rosengrant assured the crowd the programs will return and grow under the new roof.
“This goes to show the pillar that we’ve become here, and to promise all of you that we will continue to be that pillar in the community,” he said. “We’re excited today to have all of you, but more excited for three o’clock, when the kids are going to be here.”
