Originally founded in 2000, the group started when a need for afterschool programs was observed by resident Roxanne Miller.

Miller conceived of the idea and co-founded TRZ in the same year. While she retired in 2015, she still maintains regular support and contact with the organization.

“It was her vision,” said TRZ marketing and fundraising manager Linda Johnson.

“It was started as a youth center for grades 7-12 to have a program where kids could just come and hang out in a rural setting in a safe environment,” said TRZ executive director Lisa Lyon, who has been at TRZ from the beginning.

The Relief Zone has two locations in Frewsburg and one in Randolph. Frewsburg Elementary School began granting TRZ use of their facilities in 2011. P-J photo by William Mohan

The group was founded on New Years Day in 2000 and reached out to schools and churches for promotion. The first day of operation was Jan. 29. Initially, TRZ offered school-age childcare during the week and teenage outreach on Saturdays. Their opening year saw 12,000 students take part in their after school programs.

TRZ’s original branch was in the Community Center (then Frewsburg United Methodist Church) at Frew Run Road. Eventually, the group also established a branch location in Frewsburg Elementary School in 2011 and Randolph Central School in 2017.

In the fall of 2005, the organization received a Compassion Capital Grant worth $50,000. The Compassion Capital Fund is a grant program that helps grassroots organizations improve their abilities and outreach to low-income persons.

CCF supports grantees through two programs. Their demonstration program assists organizations that are a bridge agency between the U.S. Government and smaller organizations. This program provides training, technical assistance and capacity-building grant allowances.

These services can be provided through any legal agreement considered a contract by the Department of Health and Human Services.

CCF’s Communities Empowering Youth Program funds tenured organizations to help them fulfill their capacity to their collaborating partners. Working as a team, these organizations help provide alternatives for youths against gang involvement and violence, and protection from child abuse and neglect. They also help build positive youth development.

The reception of the Compassion grant allowed TRZ to build the structure of the organization. Prior to this, TRZ had only been a volunteer based organization.

“TRZ was able to hire board of directors, staff, start programming, the whole thing,” Lyon said. “We went from a $12,000 a year budget to almost $300,000 (in 2019).”

Over the years, TRZ has also received grants from various organizations across Chautauqua County.

TRZ reached a milestone in 2006 when it was granted its nonprofit status.

In 2011, Frewsburg UMC merged with Trinity Chapel to become Trinity UMC. That change ultimately led Trinity to donating the building to TRZ last year. TRZ now uses it for their summer activities.

TRZ would not be able to operate at the current capacity they do today without liscening from the New York State Office of Children and Family Services. Because TRZ ran multiple programs at once and had more than 200 children registered, OCFS determined in 2015 that TRZ would need to be lisenced to continue operations.

That year, TRZ started a $75,000 capital campaign project to upgrade the Frew Run location.

TRZ also began utilizing Frewsburg Elementary School to accommodate those upgrades. Frewsburg Elementary even let the group use the building for before and after school programs as well as tutoring and half-day activities.

In January 2018, TRZ received full state lisencing to operate at Frew Run. However, it was decided to retain the programs in place at Frewsburg Elementary.

“We decided to keep the programs already here at the school because it’s so cohesive,” Lyon said. “The transition from our program into the school day and back is so fluid.”

Lyon said this arrangement helped in the organization’s relationship with Frewsburg Elementary and provides parents peace of mind knowing a child is safe at TRZ.

TRZ received approval to operate at Randolph Central School in 2017. This new location stemmed from Randolph’s request for TRZ to operate a branch there. In January of this year TRZ received state lisencing to operate universal pre-kindergarten activities at the location. The school also provided money out of it’s budget that allowing TRZ financial freedom for Randolph’s operation.

While the teenage outreach program ended in 2017, the group still provides after school programs for students. Currently, the number of children taking part in TRZ activities is 20,075.

Today, TRZ maintains many programs containing motivational, curicular and cultural activities. Among these are a summer day camp, half day, no school, snow day and young adult programs.

Many former students of TRZ are now young adult mentors in the program. One member in particular is Maddison Whippo, who originally joined TRZ in its first summer. Now she is studying general and special education at the State University of New York at Fredonia. She also volunteers her spare time between Randolph and the two Frewsburg locations.

“I just grew up loving the program and I really wanted to go into education,” Whippo said.

Her time at TRZ along with caring for her younger sister made Whippo realize she wanted to continue her career in education. She is currently a group leader at TRZ.

“I just realized I really liked kids, and through my internships with schools around the area, I decided I wanted to get more help and experience working with kids,” she said. “I thought this was a great place to come back since I started here.”

Whippo’s current goals are to graduate and work at Frewsburg Elementary and especially with TRZ.

For more information on TRZ programs call 569-2614 or visit them on Facebook or Instagram.