HANCOCK GROUP SEEKS COMMUNITY YOUTH CENTER

Kids Unlimited Organizers Look to Rent Village Facility

HANCOCK -- Volunteers in Hancock are working to bring a youth center to the
village to help keep young people off the streets and out of trouble.

"With all that's happened here in our community, the need is very great for
the kids to be able to have a place to go," said Kathy Schoch, director of
Kids Unlimited.

She was referring to last month's drug overdose death of 18-year-old
Phillip Conklin. Police say Conklin and 20-year-old Matthew Allen made
their own drugs, using a recipe they found on the Internet and research
chemicals they ordered from an out-of-state facility. Allen survived and is
undergoing drug rehabilitation.

Young people who live in rural areas such as Hancock in Delaware County are
more likely to try drugs than their urban counterparts, according to a
study by the National Center on Addictions and Substance Abuse.

"There's no place for the kids to go," Schoch said. "It's a tough thing
today to keep these kids on the straight and narrow."

That's why she and other volunteers formed Kids Unlimited three years ago.
Their aim is to keep young people busy and out of trouble with activities
such as a bike rodeo, portable planetarium, a day camp, a fall community
harvest party and a bowling party.

Kids Unlimited has a $9,875 annual budget, financed mostly through
donations and fund-raisers, along with $1,000 from the town and $500 from
the village, Schoch said. The group is also applying a grant from the
O'Connor Foundation to match $5,000, if the group can raise $5,000 on its own.

The group's long-term goal is a youth center, Schoch said. It hopes to open
a center by renting space somewhere in the village by the fall.

Hancock Central School Principal Joseph Dyer said he supports Kids
Unlimited, which holds many activities at the school. "The more things we
can do for the kids, the more they're going to grow," he said.

Kids Unlimited is looking for donations and volunteers.

"It takes a community to raise a child," Schoch said. "It just doesn't take
a parent."