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Though it has not yet reached its full potential, organizers at The Loft Community Youth Center said establishing steady hours is a start.

The Loft is on Main and Oak streets, connected to the Luckey Post Office.
( THE BLADE/ANDY MORRISON )

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The Loft is a Christian-based community center where youths can hang out and play games or watch movies while enjoying snacks - all for free.

It celebrated its grand opening in February. But because it was still a fledgling operation struggling to find funding and volunteers, it had yet to establish steady hours of operation, said Tim Meyer, president of the Loft.

That all changed when the center reopened late last month after a summer hiatus.

It now has a program director, Rachel March, who is responsible for coming up with fun ideas for the youth and staffing the center with adult volunteers.

Justin Stewart, 11, at right, joins Lucas for a dance-video game at the center.
( THE BLADE/ANDY MORRISON )

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The center is on Main and Oak streets in the building connected to the Luckey Post Office, 248 Main St. Building owners Robert and Beth Hickok of Luckey allow the Loft to operate out of the 1,675-square-foot building rent-free, Mr. Meyer said.

High school students are invited to hang out at the center from 7 to 10 p.m. on Fridays.

But when there's an Eastwood High School home football game, the hours are postponed so students can celebrate a win or mourn a loss together at the youth center.

This means that during the fall, the Loft will be open for high school students from 9 p.m. to midnight tomorrow, Sept. 28, Oct. 12, and Oct. 26.

Middle school students can enjoy the Loft from 1 to 5 p.m. on Saturdays.

Mr. Meyer said organizers separated the high schoolers from the middle school students because the youth said they feel more comfortable interacting with those their own age.

While at the center, the youth busy themselves by playing video games, card games, pool, foosball, or hanging out on the various booths and chairs donated to the center.

"We do different things, but they can come and hang out and eat and do whatever they want to do," Mr. Meyer said.

Any programming done for high school students on Fridays will be repeated for middle schoolers on Saturdays, Mrs. March said.

"The most popular thing is Dance Dance Revolution," she said. "They have competitions with each other to see who dances the best. And anything with food is a hit with the kids."

Members of the Ecumenical Council of Luckey - a group that plans community events - began throwing around ideas for such a center more than a year ago because there is no real place for youth to hang out other than the parks, Mr. Meyer said.

It's made up of two representatives from four churches in Luckey, including two Methodist churches and two Lutheran churches.

To turn their vision into a reality, the council created the Youth Center Board to govern the center's operations.

The board is made up of nearly a dozen trustees - at least two from each church.

The ultimate goal is to open the center every day after school for students to work on their homework with mentors, and keep it open on weekends for fun activities, Mr. Meyer said.

But for that to happen, the center needs more than the 15 volunteers it has now along with additional donations because it won't be eligible for grant funding until next year.

Until then, Mrs. March has established the Loft's fall schedule through the end of October.

The dates of planned activities are:

•Sept. 7 and 8: pool table tournament.

•Sept. 14 and 15: girls only weekend.

•Sept. 21 and 22: guys only weekend.

•Sept. 28 and 29: snacks provided.

•Oct. 5 and 6: Euchre tournament.

•Oct. 12 and 13: free choice weekend.

•Oct. 19 and 20: Dance Dance Revolution tournament.

•Oct. 26 and 27: Halloween costume contest.

Anyone who is interested in volunteering his or her time at the youth center or making a donation can call Mr. Meyer at 419-833-1571.

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