Many success stories have come out of community centre Sandys 360 in its first year of being open.The centre taught a double leg amputee to swim in three months and watched him go on to win two gold medals in swimming at a para-athlete competition.It mentored young people from “negative situations” through its sports and after-school programme and kept them away from the streets.And watched as seniors from its aquatics course built lasting connections and stayed after class each week to drink tea and socialize with one another. As the west-end sport, recreation and education centre celebrates its first anniversary, staff including managing director Melvyn Bassett spoke to The Royal Gazette about the successes it has seen.Dr Bassett said Sandys 360 was a “unique entity” that had virtually partnered with Government, private agencies and schools in the community to empower youth and foster unity.He said the centre was drawing in young people, adults from all walks of life and people of different religions and ethnicities under a one roof complex.“We are hoping we will be able to see these kinds of facilities in other areas [of the Island] because we are ambitious enough to believe this is a potential solution to some major social problems experienced in the community. We do not have all the answers but we are excited by the fact we are seeing some really positive inter-relations among youth and adults in the west-end community.”Aquatics Director Selena Mello has been with the programme from day one and watched as people in the community learnt new skills and developed new relationships.She recalled seeing para-athlete Paul Hollis, 63, learn to swim in their pool, seven years after loosing both legs.After only three months of lessons he was doing a “very good breast stroke”, she said, adding that he went on to win two gold medals in the Desert Challenge Games in Mesa, Arizona.“We have a chair lift into and out of the pool which now makes things accessible to more people, including stroke patients who come here for rehabilitation.”Mid Atlantic Wellness Institute patients and seniors from two of the Island's rest homes also use the pool for rehabilitation, Ms Mello said. “That is something these patients would not have been able to do before Sandys 360.”The centre's master programme has seen the likes of boxer Teresa Perozzi and veteran runner Kent Richardson train at their facilities. It also recently formed the Island's forth registered swim club, Sandys 360 Stingrays, and taught swim classes for people from two to 85-years-old.John Nusum, a former player with professional in-door soccer team Philadelphia Kixx, said the centre had also become a positive outlet for young people.He said: “I am relatively new to the situation so I was able to see Sandys 360 from the outside before I became a part of the group. I see it as an outlet for the young people.“Some come from negative situations but it gives them an outlet where they are not sent to the streets earlier than they need to be, so I really see Sandys 360 as a hub for the community,” said the sports director.Tia Tankard said the after-school programme, which consists of 90 minutes of homework help, followed by cooking, botany or swimming classes, has seen children improve their attitudes and behaviors.One shy child from Purvis Primary didn't know any children on his first day at the centre, but now has a handful of good friends.“He tries to come to all our camps,” she said. “Other children have anger issues but when they come here they do not have them at all. Some have been suspended from primary school but still demand to come to the after-school programme.”She said the programme was a positive alternative for many, who may otherwise be spending time idly. “These could be children that if we weren't here could be playing on their streets and thowing rocks at people's cars,” Ms Tankard said.Beverly Daniels, the centre's educational director, said she has seen events like the centre's Christmas Party draw cross sections of the community together.She praised Dr Bassett and the board at Sandy's Secondary Middle School for bringing the club into fruition and said: “While we give [Dr Bassett] a hard time he is a visionary.”She anticipated the club would establish more partnerships with other organisations in the near future and hoped it would become an “example to other communities of how we can work together with diverse groups”.The organisation is celebrating its first anniversary by hosting a series of activities from February 4 to 13, to raise $250,000 for its youth development programmes. See sidebar for more information.