Wesley Community Center receives $100,000
grant from Corpus Christi for 5-year note on property


Corpus Christi recently awarded $100,000 in Community Development Block Grant funding to Wesley Community Center in Corpus Christi.
The money will help the UM-sponsored ministry pay down its loan on property located at 4015 MacArthur St.
The Corpus Christi center, along with the original Wesley Center in Robstown, serves low-income infants and children and their parents with childcare services, food pantries and numerous other programs. The Robstown center has been serving children and parents for 65 years.
Wesley works with parents and children of all church affiliations regardless of race or ethnicity.
The 27,000-square-foot building in Corpus Christi, constructed in 1968, sits on five acres near the Greenwood and Horne intersection. It serves about 100 children in daycare and afterschool programs.
The childcare program includes roundtrip transportation for homeless children living in emergency shelters and transitional housing.
Wesley purchased the building in 2003 from the Carmelite Sisters for $750,000. With the $100,000 from the city and other donations, the five-year note is now $630,000, with the balance due in 2009.
A major capital campaign to pay off the building note is under way by the members
of Wesley Center’s board of directors.
“We are appealing to all United Methodist churches, along with local businesses and community members, to partner with Wesley Community Center to help pay off the loan, “ said A.M. “Bud” Salvo, a Wesley board member. “The Texas Methodist Foundation has assisted with a five-year plan to pay off the loan.”
Wesley Community Center is designated by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation. All donations are tax deductible.
Wesley is also a national, Southwest Texas Conference and Corpus Christi District Advance Special agency.
For more information on how local churches, businesses and individuals may help, contact Salvo at (361) 991-5153 (asalvo@stx.rr.com) or Eddie Jackson-Mathis at (361) 880-8300 (wcc1942@aol.com).
Donations may be sent to Wesley Community Center, P. O. Box 7099, Corpus Christi 78467-7099.