WEST SIDERS CELEBRATE $2.8 MILLION RENOVATION OF MAJOR ADAMS CENTER

 A festive parade kicked off the celebration of the grand reopening of the Major Adams Community Committee center after a $2.8 million renovation.

The legendary 88-year-old Major James Adams joined civic and political leaders in cutting the red ribbon officially reopening the Major Adams Community Committee at 125 North Hoyne Avenue, following a $2.8 million renovation by the Chicago Housing Authority. The Major Adams Community Committee, an affiliate of the Chicago Area Project, is a Near West Side center serving youth and families with an array of after school and out-of-school programs. The renovation enables the center to provide expanded and cutting edge services for neighborhood youth and their families.
 

 Pat McCool, wife of the late David McCool, MACC Program Manager, watches as Teen Reach President Shantell Lumpkin directs a balloon launch in his honor.
The event kicked off with a parade led by the famed Major Adams Drum & Bugle Corps, serving as a Pied Piper, drawing children and adults to the festivities. Dignitaries present included Ald. Walter Burnett, Rep. Annazette Collins, Sen. Rickey Hendon, Ald. Robert Fioretti, and CHA executives.
    The ceremony included a tribute to Major Adams by Teen Reach member Diamond Houston and a balloon launch honoring the late David McCool by Teen Reach President Shantell Lumpkin. McCool was MACC Program Director, who died last June at age 61. The center gym is being renamed the David McCool Sportatorium.
 

 The Drum & Bugle Corps, the living legacy & trademark of Major Adams’ youth mentoring, kicks off the center’s grand reopening celebration.

The MACC, as it is affectionately called, has served West Side youth for more than 14 years, though Major Adams himself has mentored Henry Horner children and teens for over half a century. The center provides homework and tutoring programs; computer classes; Music in Motion, a drum & bugle corps for 7-12 year olds; the West Haven Journalists camera club; plus mentoring, sports programs, and tournaments.

 The legendary Major James Adams, who started the Hornets Drum & Bugle Corps a half-century ago to keep West Side youth out of trouble, celebrates the reopening of the center bearing his name after a $2.8 million renovation.

Major James Adams is a World War II veteran and national Jefferson Award winner. The trailblazing specialist in gang intervention and violence prevention started the Hornets Drum & Bugle Corps as a vehicle for keeping Henry Horner Housing Project kids out of trouble. Currently, more than 500 young people participate in the center’s programs annually.

Dignitaries cut the ribbon, officially reopening the Major Adams Community Committee center following a $2.8 million renovation.