MSSCA celebrates completion of new building

WASILLA — After more than six years of planning and a year of construction work, Mat-Su Services for Children and Adults, 1225 W. Spruce Ave., welcomed the community into its new $6.7 million facility during an open house Friday.

Before the ribbon was cut and tours of the new facility began, a slate of folks involved in helping the project reach fruition spoke about their roles.

Executive Director John Cannon said the support of Health and Social Services Commissioner William Streur was instrumental in getting the project built.

At the mic, Streur told the audience he recalls vividly the first time Cannon called to ask for a meeting to pitch the project. He said he told him the only opening he had was a Saturday morning slot.

“I’ll take it,” Cannon said.

When MSSCA began serving Valley residents in 1985, it employed two part-time infant learning teachers and served about 10 families. Today, MSSCA serves between 1,200 and 1,500 people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and has more than 250 employees in seven program areas.

“We kind of grew like the Valley did,” Cannon said during an April 2013 groundbreaking ceremony for the project. “I believe the new facility will enhance the thing we value most — delivery of quality services. This will be an established, sustainable resource families can count on for the next 25 to 50 years.”

Rasmuson Foundation President Diane Kaplan said the people served by MSSCA might have been sent out of state for services at a different time in Alaska’s history.

“At statehood, people who need these services would have been sent out of state never to be seen again by their families,” she said.

Kaplan said MSSCA has a committed board of directors, strong management and uses its resources carefully.

“These are the kind of projects we like to fund,” she said.

The dream of a new facility began at a Strategic Planning Session in January 2008 and construction began in April 2013.

The architect was Barnes Architecture; project manager was the Conway Management Group; and F-E Contracting was the contractor.

Cannon said the project came in on time and under budget. But that none of it would be possible without the funding received from the state, the Rasmuson Foundation, Mat-Su Health Foundation, the Alaska Mental Health Trust and the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust.

He said the Foraker Group also was a key partner.

The new building is located on the Mat-Su Health Services’ 36-acre campus off Spruce Avenue near Lucus Road in Wasilla.

Cannon said the non-profit celebrates its 30th anniversary in January 2015.

Contact Heather A. Resz at 352-2268 or heather.resz@frontiersman.com.