Bryan County Family Connection is getting its year started by hosting a planning retreat and a volunteer work day at its new service center.
The planning retreat is from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday at the Richmond Hill City Center, and BCFC director Wendy Sims said the purpose of the retreat is to take a look a the organization's five-year plan.
Sims said the five-year plan includes strategies for working on community issues, goals the organization has and more. Since the retreat will also help pinpoint some needs in the community, Sims said the public is encouraged to attend.
"We've opened it up to the community because we want to have a true reflection of what the community needs are," Sims said.
This is just the start of gathering the information set to be included in the five-year plan, Sims said. In the next few months, she said, BCFC plans to do several community assessments to get feedback on community needs, and also to let the public know what projects BCFC is working on.
One project the organization is continuing to work on is renovations to the service center in Richmond Hill. The building, located at 9611 Ford Ave. behind the Richmond Hill Public Library, was previously a Senior Citizens Center, but is now being remodeled to house services offered through BCFC in South Bryan.
To help with the renovations, Sims said the organization has set a volunteer work day for 8 a.m. Feb. 11. Volunteers on that day will help repaint the walls in the building, she said.
After that, Sims said there will likely be another volunteer work day to make improvements to the floors in the building. Sims said she hopes to have all renovations complete by April.
Anyone interested in volunteering to help or attending the retreat can email ga.bcfc@yahoo.com or call 653-3824.