EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — A hometown hero is on a quest to give more children in the Metro East a chance to thrive. Right now, construction is underway on a major expansion of the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Community Center in East St. Louis.
For most people, you don't get to look a decorated Olympian in the face every day. That's not the case for these young people.
"Sometimes, I’m the first one here (and) the last one to leave,” Jackie Joyner-Kersee said.
Despite a team in place, Joyner-Kersee wants to see the magic that's changing lives.
“They love seeing me as much as I love seeing them, and I think you have to lead by example,” she said.
For 24 years, children and families have come to the JJK Community Center in East. St. Louis for academics, sports and arts and crafts. Now, the center is ready to take it to the next level.
"The whole campus is right about 100 acres, so we’re constantly building,” said Lecia Rives with the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation.
This year, the center broke ground for a big expansion to include the JJK Food, Agriculture and Nutrition (FAN) Innovation Center, featuring extra classroom space.
“It will also have an amphitheater,” and a community kitchen to prepare healthy food that's grown on site, Rives said. “So, we're gonna have aquaponics as well and the green and grow space that is there … We'll be able to grow food in there all year round.”
The expansion is music to the ears of parents who have fond memories of this place.
"Rain sleet or snow, we were here,” Dominic Williams said.
The 33-year-old came to the JJK Community Center as a third grader.
"All the programs we had here helped cultivate everything that I do now from basketball all the way to computers," Williams said.
He now has a master's degree, and he brings his daughter to the center so she can make something of herself.
“It inspires me, motivates me, you know, to keep doing what I'm doing,” Joyner-Kersee said.
"The miracle on 25th Street, the house that Jackie built is now no longer just a house. We're developing into an entire campus where we can continue to service the community,” Rives said.
The $20 million addition is expected to be finished sometime next year. It will also boast new fields for baseball, football and soccer and a wrestling center. Private donors and state funding are making it possible.