The donation of a building scheduled for auction later this month will help The Way Station continue its charitable Christian programs, but the former owner of that building is upset the charity group won't be using it the way its members had told him.
Dr. James Morgenstern, a Howland-based chiropractor, donated his former practice building, at 798 E. Liberty St., Girard, to the charitable group in Nov. 2008.
Morgenstern said Jim Couchenour, who is on the Way Station's board of directors and volunteers his time there, had convinced him to donate the building to the organization so it could open a branch that would serve Mahoning and Trumbull counties by providing help to drug and alcohol addicts and changing their lives by instilling in them responsibility and good values.
"In my heart of hearts, I totally believed that whole situation," he said.
But after leaving the building vacant for about a year, which had already upset Morgenstern, he said Couchenour told him the group was putting the building up for auction and would be using proceeds of the sale to continue and hopefully expand on its other services and ministries.
Couchenour, who helped found The Way Station in 1988, explained with the downward trend the economy has taken over the past year, the organization does not have enough funding to properly handle such a program at the Girard building. The organization receives some government grants, but he noted it gets the bulk of its funding from donations from the community, and this has been a particularly hard year for the organization's finances.
"Our original hope was that we could develop a ministry out of the building," he said. "With the economy and all that has happened, that just hasn't been possible."
He estimated the program would have cost about $150,000 to implement, which is money The Way Station just doesn't have.
The building had an appraised value of $340,000 four years ago, but an assessment from this year knocked its value down to $256,000. With one floor plus a loft and basement, the building has 7,600 square feet of floor space and sits on 1.558 acres of property six miles away from the Eastwood Mall.
It hosts a six-person hot tub and sauna with room for six to eight people. Additionally, Morgenstern had donated 18 heavy-duty body-building machines that would have been used in an exercise-based drug and alcohol recovery program.
The auction is scheduled for 1 p.m. Dec. 17 at the building site, but Couchenour said anyone can purchase the building prior to the auction for $230,000 plus a 10-percent buyer's fee.
Morgenstern acknowledged the money from the sale of the building will go toward a good cause, but it is not the cause for which he donated the building.
"I'm hoping that it's honest and real, but I'm really upset that it turned out the way it did ... I really did it to help the people struggling in Mahoning County," he said, later including Trumbull County, as the building is located near the county line and would have served both counties.
The Way Station, which carries the mission of reflecting the compassion of Jesus Christ in practical ways, is centered in Columbiana and has a second location in East Liverpool. As of late fall, Couchenour said the organization had offered services to more than 20,000 people in 2009, more than 1,000 of whom were from Mahoning County.
Couchenour said he and the rest of the board were just as upset as Morgenstern that they would not be able to enact the program as planned. Although it is not economically feasible now, Couchenour said the board would like to focus its efforts north if it ever finds the money to do so.
"We have major needs here, but the Mahoning-Trumbull area has even greater needs," he noted.
He said he had originally met Morgenstern through a friend he met while leading a community ministry at Panera Bread in Boardman, who just happened to be an advisor to the chiropractor.
"We really feel that God sent the building to us," he said.
The Way Station is a multi-faceted faith-based organization operating on one part-time and two full-time employees as well as volunteers, senior aides, people performing community service and members of the Department of Job and Family Services work experience program.
The Columbiana location hosts a store where people with needs can purchase used clothing in good condition for 10 cents an item as well as household goods, miscellaneous furniture and other items; "Engagement," a ministry that provides people in need with someone with whom they can talk about their problems; a food pantry and a Thanksgiving meal that served 369 community members this year.
The organization sends donated clothing that is not up to standards to a central Ohio location that ships clothing around the world.
Additionally, the East Liverpool location hosts YouthBuild, a program giving teenagers and young adults experience in the construction industry while they work toward receiving their high school diplomas or general educational development.
Couchenour said he greatly appreciates the generosity Morgenstern showed by donating the building to the organization. He is hoping whoever purchases the building will be able to put in place a program similar to the one The Way Station had been planning.
