Vashti director addresses Rotarians

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December 5, 2009

Staff report

THOMASVILLE — Ralph Comerford deals with change in his job as director of the Vashti Center for Children and Families.

The Center opened in 1907, when the earlier vision of a Methodist missionary of a home for “orphan, needy and dependent girls” became a reality with the gift of a nine-room house. The Center was named after the donor’s mother, Vashti Blasingame.

Comerford and the Center’s director of development, Catherine Snook, addressed the Rotary Club of Thomasville at a club luncheon at the East Clay Street facility.

Vashti officials explained that for much of its long history, Vashti was a residential school for up to 70 girls, and first admitted boys in 1978.

In the late 1980s, the old model school closed, and the focus of the residential program changed to residential treatment of emotionally disturbed children, most of whom had been neglected, abused or abandoned, officials said. Most, of necessity, come under the jurisdiction of the state.

According to the director, state funding is 20 percent less than the cost of providing services. The Methodist Church and community make up the difference, he explained.

One of the biggest Vashti changes came on July l, 2007, when the treatment model changed to one of community-based rather than residential treatment.

Vashti has about 40 children and youths in residence. Some 250 are treated in this community and in eight surrounding counties. Satellite facilities are in Moultrie and Bainbridge, and one will open soon in Valdosta.