Fort Belvoir Youth Center offers numerous activities from caring staff

Fort Belvoir Youth Center offers numerous activities from caring staff

Fort Belvoir, VA – The army principle of People First is evident every day at a facility that is not getting the traffic it deserves. The Fort Belvoir Youth Center is tucked a few blocks west of Belvoir Road, on Langfitt Loop and offers a variety of youth opportunities, ranging from life skills to citizenship, mentoring, intervention and support services, according to Marshall Barnes, Center director.

“I just need people to know that this building is here and during the school year we feed the children at no cost to the families,” Barnes said with a wide smile, adding the building is safe, quiet and offers quality programs, allowing military children to be themselves. Some of the Youth Center activities include:

• A rock wall
• A computer lab
• A homework lab, with assistance from staff
• Xbox and PlayStation games
• A is a teen-specific lounge which separates them from the younger children.
• A garden
• Basketball courts (indoor and outdoor)
• There are even remote control cars here that can race at 60 miles an hour
• Sponsor fishing and archery events at Outdoor Recreation

An under-used gem for Families
Barnes thinks more families would take advantage of the Center if they only knew, but many families living on post are not assigned to Fort Belvoir, which means they get their briefings from the Pentagon or Andrews Air Force Base. He recalls receiving feedback from the Interactive Customer Evaluation service, or ICE, which said, “The Fort Belvoir youth program is the best thing I've seen in 10 years. The staff is great.”

The most recent figures indicate about 60 students are regulars at the Center, but Barnes is ready to see those numbers double, which is what it was before the pandemic, explaining that “Child and Youth Services is a Soldier’s resource from six weeks old to their first year of college.”

“Once a month, we have something called Pure Pizza, where it’s essentially a youth council, and they take about what makes this place special and what they want to see in the future.

It’s not all fun and games. Barnes points out there’s guidance for teens about healthy habits, and what runners should have the night before a meet and how far in advance they should hydrate. There is even a cooking club. Someone brings the recipe, and they go as a group to the Commissary to buy the ingredients and return to the Center to create and share the meal.

Assistants who know military life

Isaiah Robinson, a Child Youth Program Assistant, was a participant back in 2004, as his mother worked on post.

“This place is like a second home, which is why when it came time for me to get my first job, this was a no-brainer. It's like a family,” Robinson said. “I was nervous at first, because I didn't know what to expect. But it was an easy transition.”

He noted the Youth Center is different than other activities outside the gate, because more people here understand what may seem normal to a military child.

“The chaos and change of having a parent deploy and maybe have to stay with a relative who’s close by – these kinds of experiences are what brings some of these kids together,” he said.

The assistants all specialize in a special skill. Since Robinson grew up playing sports, he offers his guidance to young athletes. His co-worker, Miss Ryan, whose passion is art, helped create a room full of crafts.

Though Robinson has begun assist instructor duties at Whitman Middle School, he still works at the Youth Center to give back to the resilient military youth.

Barnes said the doors are open to all families on post, and he hopes many more will come to see the wealth of opportunities that are offered.

“I want people to know that this building is available to them, whether they come for 20 minutes, once a week, or they come every day from open to close,” said Barnes. “You will see we enjoy what we do here.”

Fort Belvoir Youth Center
5850 Langfitt Loop, Bldg. 1003
Monday – Friday 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Call 703-805-4515 for more information or go to
https://belvoir.armymwr.com/programs/youth-Center