Board members of Hero House, Colquitt County’s child advocacy center, joined with representatives of First Presbyterian Church to celebrate the church’s donation of the land the charity sits on and a grant made possible by the charity owning its own property.

MOULTRIE — Supporters of Hero House gathered Oct. 25 to celebrate related milestones for the county’s child advocacy center.

Regina Dismuke, director of Hero House, said First Presbyterian Church had given the charity the deed to the First Street Southeast lot where its building sits. A token deed used as a prop during a photo session indicated that had actually happened in June.

Hero House opened in late 2000 in a house owned by the church, and a church member has always served on its board of directors.

But to qualify for grants to improve the facility, Hero House itself needed to own the land, Dismuke said. She approached the church representative on the board about negotiating a purchase, and the representative urged her to see if the church would agree to just give them the land.

When the question came up at the church session, it passed unanimously.

“Hero House has been a ministry of our church for 20-plus years,” said John Peters Jr., who served in that session and represented First Presbyterian on Oct. 25. “We felt this was a way to keep supporting Hero House.”

The plan was successful. Hero House recently received a grant to help build a soundproof room for interviews.

Hero House exists to help child victims of neglect and abuse, whether physical, mental or sexual. Part of that is interviewing the child about what he or she experienced in order to gather evidence for law enforcement to prosecute the abuser. It’s difficult because the child is being asked to describe a very traumatic experience.

Meanwhile, the interview is taking place in a 100-year-old house about 10 steps from a fairly busy city street.

Dismuke said that as the child struggles to describe what happened to them, their voice will often drop very low — to the point the recording device may not pick it up clearly. Background noise from passing cars can drown it out. The interviewer will often have to repeat what the child said to ensure it’s preserved.

“We shouldn’t have to do that,” Dismuke said. “Their voice should be heard.”

Hero House has been working on the problem for about six years now, she said.

“We’ve done all we could possibly do to make the [existing] room soundproof,” she said, but it has not been enough.

The grant will fund the construction of a new building, adjacent to Hero House’s medical facility, that will be designed to be soundproof. Officials are still working with the City of Moultrie about electrical and plumbing hookups. Wayne Edwards, who’s in charge of the building committee, said they’ve been very grateful for the city’s help.

The next challenge will be hiring someone to do the work and getting the supplies in, Edwards said — both labor and building materials have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and haven’t gotten back to normal yet.

Once work starts, it should take six months to a year to finish, he said.