The Children’s Home of Wheeling has received a $200,000 federal grant to upgrade the facility.

Louise Paree, executive director of The Children’s Home, said that the home's needs include energy-efficient windows to reduce utility bills, reliable vehicles to transport residents, an upgraded telephone system and additional staff resources, including a new education coordinator to “fill that parental role of working with the school system on the boys’ education.”

U.S. Rep. Alan B. Mollohan, a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, inserted the grant into the FY 2009 Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations bill. Mollohan chairs the subcommittee that wrote the bill.

The Children’s Home is a non-profit corporation that provides residential services to males ages 12-18 who have been abused or neglected or who suffer from Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders. The grant, which is provided by the Justice Department’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, will also allow the facility to increase the number of boys in residence.