JOHNSTOWN - While he could be staying up late playing video games or scrolling through social media, a Gloversville teen has recently spent his evenings trying to help a Johnstown community center raise money, reaching out to news outlets to drum up support.
“I’m trying to help the community but I need help with that,” 14-year-old Timothy VanKleeck-Eagan wrote in an email to The Daily Gazette Family of Newspapers.
A student at Pathways in Technology Early College High School (PTECH) out of Johnstown, VanKleeck-Eagan has been working to spread the word about One Church Street, which is poised to provide a food pantry and community kitchen for city residents.
He’s become a sort of one-man public relations team for the center, which is led by Rev. Laurie Garramone of the St. John’s Episcopal Church.
“He just caught the fire of inspiration and immediately understood what we were doing,” Garramone said.
VanKleeck-Eagan has been working overtime lately, as One Church Street is trying to raise $100,000 before Mother’s Day as part of the Brown Family matching challenge.
VanKleeck-Eagan first got involved earlier this year and was inspired in part by the death of his grandfather who died on Mother’s Day last year.
“My dad, he never turned anybody away,” said VanKleeck-Eagan’s mother, Heather. “I'm the youngest of seven . . . we grew up poor, but he always took anybody that needed it.”
“We all learned from my dad that nobody goes hungry. And you do whatever you can to help them. So he kind of inspired us,” she added.
Gloversville teen Timothy VanKleeck-Eagan, stands in front of One Church Street in Gloversville, Sunday, April 21, 2024 with hats that he has made and plans to donate.
“I decided to make hats in his honor and donate them to the needy as we have a lot of homeless people in our community, and they lack basic needs and food. Some lack it even though they are not homeless, they just need some extra help,” Timothy VanKleeck-Eagan said.
Using a small loom, he’s been making hats since late last year with tags saying: “Made in memory of my Papa, 1949-2023.”
He wasn’t quite sure where to donate them and then he came across One Church Street. At the time, they were collecting hygiene kits for Gloversville High School students. VanKleeck-Eagan donated dozens of hats as well as some hygiene kits and connected with Garramone when he dropped them off.
Gloversville teen Timothy VanKleeck-Eagan, left, stands with Laurie Garramone, the rector of St. John's Episcopal Church in front of One Church Street in Gloversville, Sunday, April 21, 2024. VanKleeck-Eagan is helping raise awareness for the project.
“We just got to talking and filling him in on the things that were happening at One Church Street and he sort of caught [the] fire, which is amazing,” Garramone said.
He made two videos about the project, detailing the need for the services One Church Street would provide and encouraging viewers to think of their fellow community members. He posted both videos on YouTube and has also been reaching out to The Daily Gazette Family of Newspapers and other outlets, trying to get the word out.
“I have the want in my heart to help them, but being 14 I feel I lack the ability to do so effectively. This community center is a huge part of the community. They feed anyone who needs a meal,” VanKleeck-Eagan wrote in his email.
There are big plans in the works for One Church Street, which is located in the old Johnstown YMCA building. It’ll have a sizable food pantry, a community kitchen and an event space for city residents, as well as administrative offices.
“It’s going to be this beautiful, open, fully accessible [building],” Garramone said. “None of our facilities have been handicap accessible because they’re old buildings. This building is going to be completely accessible to anybody who needs to come. That’s so joyful for us.”
At this time, the food pantry is in the basement of the church and is not handicap accessible. It’s also small for the community’s needs.
“We’re going to have a nice loading dock to bring the food into the facility, which is really important for us because the food pantry goes through approximately one ton of food a week. They gave away enough food for 53,000 meals last year in 2023,” Garramone said.
St. John’s Episcopal Church bought the building in 2013 with the understanding that renovations were needed to make the space more accessible. Over the years, inflation has moved the original price tag from $1.5 million to $3 million.
“We have currently raised $2.2 million of a $3 million project. All of that money has been raised with local donors, foundations and corporations, which is always so amazing to me. We are currently about $100,000 short of being able to open our doors in June of this year,” Garramone said.
Lately, they’ve focused on raising $100,000 as part of the Brown family matching grant, which runs through Mother’s Day. The fundraising challenge is in honor of community members Dick and Dee Brown and, as of Friday, they’ve raised $26,115.80.
VanKleeck-Eagan aims to help them get the rest of the way.
Beyond raising money for One Church Street, he hopes to have his school’s Positivity Club collect food donations as well.
“The work that a 14-year-old young man put into helping us raise money is inspirational. He hasn’t lost that feeling that people need to be doing more in our community. We’re so impressed by his hard work and his commitment,” Garramone said.
For more information on plans for One Church Street or to donate, visit onechurchstreet.org.