The Ames Youth and Shelter Services held the first public event at the Youth Activities Center in the old Ames City Hall on Monday as a part of the Family History Plaza commemorative brick campaign kickoff.

As part of the renovation of the old Ames City Hall, Youth and Shelter Services is creating a commemorative brick plaza in order to raise funds for the YSS and the landscaping around the building. The Family History Plaza, which will serve as a public gathering place in front of the building along Fifth Street, will be constructed of 1,200 engraved bricks, each with a maximum of three lines of wording.

The Family History Plaza will be similar to the Plaza of Heroines located outside Catt Hall.

Several of the first bricks to be placed in the plaza were displayed at the kickoff, including a brick for Troy Davis which read: “Troy Davis, 2000 x 2 yrs, 11/23/96.”

George Belitsos, director of Ames YSS, said, “A lot of kids have a lot of admiration for what he’s done. He’s overcome a lot of hurdles.”

Belitsos encouraged ISU students and student organizations to participate in the plaza. Bricks are $100 each and are tax deductible.

The first brick to be displayed in the plaza was bought by 85-year-old Farwell Brown, the Ames town historian, and his wife Ruth for Farwell’s grandparents: Kendrick W. and Lydia G. Brown. The brick will commemorate them for their 1866 arrival to Ames, which then had a population of 100, before the town was incorporated.

Gary Gerlach, publisher of the Ames Daily Tribune, bought a brick to commemorate the founding of the newspaper in 1885. He said he felt the plaza was a metaphor for Ames and YSS.

“We build a community one youth at a time, and we build a building one brick at a time,” he said.

He was glad the old City Hall was saved from destruction in 1995, when the City Council decided to turn it over to YSS, which has led the fund-raising efforts to renovate the building through a campaign called Preserving the Past-Preparing for the Future.

Richard Jacobson, the Des Moines businessman who donated funds for the Jacobson Athletic Building, stepped in and donated $500,000 to the campaign.

He and his wife Toni have honored their 3-year-old granddaughter Marisa Ann Heisterkamp with a brick stating the word: “Granddaughter.”

Annette Forbes, advertising manager for the Iowa State Daily, serves as a volunteer member for the Preserving the Past-Preparing for the Future Campaign. She bought a brick for her husband, who died in July of 1992. The brick reads: “In Memory of Daniel Forbes.”

One brick purchased by the YSS was for a junior at Ballard High School in Huxley, Dan Fjelland, to honor his efforts with the YSS Youth Planning Committee, scheduling alcohol- and drug-free events such as Club 7 and working with in-school prevention programs like Kid Ability. Club 7 is a substance-free activity occasionally held at Hunky Dory’s for the students of all seven Story County high schools.

Jody Kammin, YSS prevention specialist, said Fjelland’s actions represent what YSS intends to do to help the community.

“Many youth I work with are just as involved as Dan in this community, but there are a few more things that set Dan apart as a youth leader. His actions speak louder than words. He practices what he preaches,” she said.