ROSEVILLE, Mich. – A children’s clubhouse in Roseville, which has been a labor of love for so many, was recently targeted by vandals who destroyed everything they could find inside.
The Juggernauts Kids Foundation has been building a space in Roseville where children can talk with mentors and counselors and safely open up about bullying, if they want to. The space was also built to provide computer access to kids for their school work, or fun activities, including video games, to give them an outlet “to just be a kid,” officials say.
This week, owner Robert Durham stopped by the space to pick up some t-shirts and found the clubhouse completely destroyed. Vandals had broken into the building and turned it upside down.
Every single surface was trashed: TV screens were shattered, computer screens were cracked, spray paint covered the walls, and even the toilet was busted up. It was a kick in the gut for Durham and his 10 friends, who had spent months prepping the clubhouse and filling it with expensive equipment to benefit the children in the community.
“I wanted it to be a fun space, an inviting space, for kids to come, [to] just feel free, just have fun, not worry about what’s happening at school,” Durham said.
You can see the damage in the video report up above.
Durham had donated tens of thousands of dollars to the clubhouse from his Macomb County company Juggernauts Moving and Storage. He and his friends worked to put the entire space together, all the way down to the murals.
But despite the destruction inside the clubhouse, the owner says he’s not willing to give up on his mission that easily.
“Something like this won’t deter me from my main goal ... and my main focus is to help every kid that needs the help,” Durham said.
The vandals reportedly stole some gaming consoles, but otherwise left everything in the building, destroying it all instead. Police were at the scene gathering evidence on Wednesday night.
A GoFundMe fundraiser has been set up to help the foundation rebuild the clubhouse. They expect the rebuild to take a lot of time and money, and have set their fundraising goal at $30,000.