As its executive director Shawnda Cook likes to say, the Shack Neighborhood House will go to the ends of the earth, and back again, for the children and families it serves.
From its home base in Pursglove, the outreach center has been doing just that since 1928, when it was founded to help impoverished coal-mining families in the Scotts Run area. The Shack quickly became a favorite of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who carried that same mission of service.
However, as Cook is quick to add, one can’t go to the ends of the Earth — and back again — if one doesn’t have a reliable set of wheels.
That’s how a GoFundMe account for a new van came to be.
The Shack’s current ride, a road-worn 2000 Dodge Ram 3500 commercial model that seats 10 and comes with more miles than Cook can count, recently had its catalytic converter lifted.
Catalytic converters, which turn a vehicle’s toxic emissions into exhaust gas, have been a favorite of enterprising thieves of late for the precious metals of platinum, palladium and rhodium they contain.
Said metals are currently fetching exorbitant prices on the market. How exorbitant? Rhodium alone can bring more than $19,000 an ounce, industry watchers say — and no, that’s not a typo.
Meanwhile, what that van hauls at the Shack, Cook said, is priceless.
The van shuttles youngsters to and from, for all those after-school and summer programs hosted by the Shack. There are the short jaunts to the Core Arboretum and Hovatter’s Zoo and the serious road trips to Pittsburgh, for Pirate games and Kennywood Park.
Cook, who is coming up on her first year in the job — she formerly headed Mon Valley’s Habitat for Humanity — has been looking at that van since the beginning of her tenure.
“It’s 22 years old,” she said.
“We started thinking, ‘Well, you can replace the catalytic converter, but the van is still going to be 22 years old.”
That means other concerns, she said: The frame, suspension, steering and the like, plus whatever might be brewing under the hood.
“It has to be safe,” Cook said.
What it isn’t, she said, is a matter of a simple trip to a dealership for a test drive.
Not for a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit already laboring under a tight budget, she said.
It costs $50,000 for a replacement, the director said — and no van means no field trips. As of Friday afternoon, the effort had raised $3,145 toward that $50K goal.
Visit the Shack on Facebook to learn more about its operation and fundraising goal.
Donations are typically 100% tax deductible, the organization said.
What won’t be deducted, Cook said, is gratitude.
“This community has been very generous to the Shack,” she said.
“Any donation is greatly appreciated.”
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