As the Union City Family Support Center (UCFSC) celebrates over ten years of service to the Community, I look back at where the center has been and where it is going.  When I look at the buildings coming down Main Street and gain more knowledge about the history of Union City, I realize the town and the Union City Family Support Center have had a similar story.  From the days of Miles Mills to present this quaint community has rolled along like the French Creek so close to its roots.  It has grown up, developed, faced hurdles and then reinvented itself.  From the original saw mill in the early 1800’s, to the blacksmith shop and the grist mill that developed shortly after, to the many factories and lumber mills that followed.  Each time the community grew up while still continuing to “retain many of its traditional qualities.”  The community grew so much that Union City was known as “The Chair Center of the World”.    

Unfortunately those days are long gone, but there are many in this community and the surrounding areas that are looking for the future and the next level.  The Union City Family Support Center is feeling some of the same growing pains and some of the same anxieties of what lies ahead.  In the ten years on Main Street, the center has gone through some of its own transformations and struggles.  Yet here we are today at the crossroads of change and find ourselves in a very good place.  In the heart of this small community, the center is growing up and getting back to the vision of the founders which was to be the premier provider of services to meet the needs of this rural community.  With the addition of strong, evidenced based programming and expansion of the areas we serve, the Union City Family Support Center has reinvented itself and transformed to meet the times.  Just as the Gathering at French Creek is a festival that celebrates Union City's historic background of being a gathering place at the crossroads.  The center celebrates itself at a crossroads and hopes to bring people together and be a positive part of the Union City Community and have a positive impact on South Erie County.  We thank all the individuals that have supported our mission and look forward to your continued support.

                                                                                            Brad McGarry    

                                                                                            Executive Director