BRUNSWICK

At around 2:45 p.m. most weekdays, the generally quiet People Plus building on Union Street is ground zero to an eruption of chaos. That’s the time, Monday through Thursday, that a school bus drops off youth at the Brunswick Teen Center.

“Most teens are arriving by bus, and they come thundering up the stairs,” said Teen Center coordinator Jordan Cardone, describing a typical afternoon. “Then there’s food, and boom — they pour forth their day. You hear about it all — the bus ride, their school day, whether they changed hair color.”

Some teens stick to video games, some are using nail polish and hair chalk, almost everyone hits the snack table.

“Magic time is 4:30, when the physical energy starts bursting out of them, and that’s when we send them out. They’ll go on bike rides, play basketball. In the winter, we talk them into push-up competitions,” said Cardone.

Last call for the snack table is 5 p.m., and then the kids sign out. Peace is restored to the valley.

A lot of kids, though, would rather stay, said Cardone.

Currently, most teens that attend the center are on the “lower-income scale,” said Cardone.

“The teens run the gamut, but every one of them is here because of some reason. They either have a very low level of socialization, or there are mental health issues. Something ostracizes them — either it’s transportation, economics, home life, being made fun of — that has drawn them here. We maintain an even playing field, and I think that’s really important,” said Cardone.

Membership and amenities at the teen center are free and open to those in grades 6-12, and many who use the center are 11- and 12-years old.

“It’s a tough age, where they’re just beginning to enter their teens,” said Cardone, noting that the middle school social challenges “can be brutal.”

“Jordan has created an environment where these kids are accepting with each other in a way they never had in school,” said Stacy Frizzle, executive director of People Plus, the multi-generational organization that runs the Teen Center.

This month, the center marked its 10th anniversary, and Frizzle said she anticipates having events and fundraisers through the year in celebration.

There was a center for teens that began in 1944, when a group of students formed The Teenagers’ Canteen that, according to information provided by People Plus, came as a result of concerns of juvenile delinquency and was supported by Bowdoin College.

The Canteen appeared successful, having gained 250 members within three months of its founding.

“There can be no question but that every community must do more and more for its youth in the way of helpful and sensible recreation,” wrote Kenneth C.M. Sills, who was president at Bowdoin College during the time of the Canteen’s founding. “All authorities agree that in the restless condition of the present time, well conducted enterprises for youth are of great benefit.”

According to Frizzle, the Canteen eventually died out.

Between 2003-04, there was a renewed interest in reestablishing a program for Brunswick’s teens who found themselves at home and without parental supervision after school, Frizzle said.

Cardone said there just wasn’t a place for them.

“They wanted a place to be together, where they can hang out with friends, that wasn’t school, that wasn’t a sport,” said Cardone.

A group of stakeholders then formed in order to find a location for at-risk teens in the community.

“There was a cry for a place for students to go,” said Greg Bartlett, the outgoing assistant superintendent of the Brunswick School District, who was part of the stakeholders group. “Back then, the term was latchkey kids. A small population of kids that weren’t involved in after-school activities. They were hanging out in the streets, and needed some sort of safe place to go.”

The center first opened on Noble Street, and was incorporated into People Plus. Five years ago, People Plus and the center moved to its current location on Union Street.

Today, Bartlett said the teen center has become a place that helps kids perform better in school.

“It’s just another demonstration of how the people in Brunswick who want to make a difference can step forward and provide more opportunities for young people,” Bartlett said.

Brunswick Parks and Recreation Director Tom Farrell, who was part of the stakeholders group, said the center is providing a “safe, supervised environment for those critical hours after school.”

“This is a very important place for a demographic of our middle school population,” Farrell said. “The kids that come to the program very, very much value this place. They know, consistently, that they have support, that they can be safe and get something to eat. That, to me, is the message as to what the Teen Center brings to the community.”

Supervision is provided by Cardone and others, including Bowdoin College volunteers that provide mentoring.

Dan Stadden started attending the Teen Center in 2006 as a sixth-grader. He stayed with the center until he graduated from Brunswick High School.

Stadden described being “bored after school all the time” until he was introduced to the center.

Stadden would later go on to serve on the center’s advisory committee. Now a student at Colby-Sawyer College in New Hampshire, he’s back at the center this summer as the center’s assistant coordinator.

“It’s given me a lot of great social skills, learning how to interact with people on an individual level or a group. It’s helped me discover myself,” Stadden said.

Stadden said he noticed that the demographics at the center changed when the center moved from Noble Street to Union Street, and more kids “with a tougher life at home” started attending the center.

However, those are the kids who can most benefit from the center.

“A lot of people look at (the center) as a nice little fun area where kids can interact and have fun activities,” said Stadden. “It’s more than that. It’s a place where they can get away from stresses in life.”

Between 11 and 14 teens visit the center on days it is open.

Unlike many after-school or recreation programs, activities at the center aren’t structured.

“It’s really a drop-in center,” said Cardone. “We’re all in one, big room, so it’s easy to maintain a no-bullying atmosphere.”

Food is a huge draw for the teens that attend the center, which offers what Cardone called a “semi-substantial, hardy snack” provided by members of People Plus and Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program.

About 4,000 individual snacks and meals are served at the center over the course of a year, said Frizzle.

“For some, it’s a meal,” said Frizzle, noting that many teens at the center are struggling with food insecurity.

The center spends between $6,000-$10,000 on food, which is not covered under the center’s budget.

The center has an operating budget of $35,000 a year, and receives about $15,000 in local taxpayer money. The center relies on multiple grants and support from local nonprofits. The center is also supported through fundraising, such as the recent Gelato Fiasco Scoop-A-Thon.

“Funding is always the number one challenge,” said Frizzle, adding: “At the end of the last fiscal year, we were running at the skin of our fiscal teeth.”

One person who has consistently supported the center is Priority Real Estate President/ CEO Jim Howard, whose monetary contribution 10 years ago helped the center get started, and recently provided a $5,000 matching grant to shore up the center’s food program.

In an interview, Howard recalled growing up and how important the Boys Club in Waterville was to him.

“I spent a lot of days, a lot of evenings and weekends playing air hockey and dodgeball,” Howard said. “It was a safe place to be, and you had access to some food.”

The center is also a place where Brunswick students can take a free SAT prep course and perform their community service hours that are a requirement for graduation.

The center is also outgrowing its space at People Plus’s headquarters at 35 Union St., but Frizzle said it’s important that, wherever the center is located next, that it be downtown to accommodate teens who may not have ready access to private transportation.

School will soon be out for the summer, but activities at the Teen Center will continue. Teen Center hours are Tuesday-Thursday from 1:30-5 p.m. Contact People Plus at (207) 729-0757 or go to peopleplusmaine.org for more information.

“Visit the Teen Center,” said Howard. “Go there after school and see the value of that program to kids.”