By CLAYTON PARK

In mid-September, an organization that's familiar to longtime locals in Fremont and Wallingford will move into its new home, at N. 36th and Stone Way, just a few blocks south of the address it called home for more than four decades until 1996.

The organization's new name, PROVAIL: Life Opportunities for People with Disabilities, which was adopted earlier this year, may take some getting used to, but its old name will certainly ring a bell for many: United Cerebral Palsy of King and Snohomish Counties.

PROVAIL is the largest privately-owned not-for-profit provider of comprehensive services to people of all types of disabilities in the northwest United States. The agency has approximately 400 employees and serves more than 1,000 individuals each year.

The organization was formed in 1942, first known as the Washington Spastic Children's Society and originally located in a portable on the grounds of the old Warren Avenue School at Second Avenue and Republican.

Mrs. John M. Nelson, one of the organization's founders, recalled how the organization started in an article she wrote in 1946-47, when she served as PTA president for the Spastic School. "A few of us parents met at the home of Dr. Wycoff, where he presented to us a plan to start a school for spastic children in Seattle. It would be three-fold: a regular school, a speech department and a physiotherapy department. ... It would prove to be our chance to prove that these children are educable, which we must do before we could present our problems to anyone else."

In 1954, the organization changed its name to United Cerebral Palsy of King County and became affiliated with the national organization, United Cerebral Palsy Association, which is based in Washington, D.C. That same year, it purchased a building in Wallingford, at N. 44th, between Stone Way and Interlake Ave. N., where it operated administrative offices, a program center, a work activities center (later known as a sheltered workshop), and machine shop. It would continue to occupy that building until 1996. Four years ago, the organization sold the building to move to Shoreline, where it also operated a residential center.

PROVAIL, which closed the residential center last year, is currently constructing a new 60,000-square-foot facility at 3670 Stone Way N., on the site of the former Golden Rule Bakery. The new building will include space for offices and a covered parking garage, and will allow the organization to consolidate its Therapeutic , Assistive Technology, Employment and Community Living services in one location.

The organization changed its name earlier this year following its decision to withdraw from its longtime affiliation with the United Cerebral Palsy Association.

"Affiliation had failed to provide relevant benefits for our agency and our customers," PROVAIL's president, O.R. Elofson, Ph.D., wrote in the agency's newsletter earlier this year. "Like many not-for-profits, we found that paying exorbitant dues to a national organization took money away from programs that served people with disabilities in our own community."

The new name also reflects the organization's broadened focus, which includes serving people with disabilities other than cerebral palsy, as well as the expansion of its coverage area to include all of Washington state. PROVAIL also provides technical assistance throughout the U.S.

Moving back to the Fremont-Wallingford area, where the organization was located for so many years, was a way of bringing things around full circle. "We're very excited" about the move, said Mike Hatzenbeler, PROVAIL's vice president of community and corporate affairs. "It's a critical step for us that will significantly increase our presence in the community. Most importantly, it will improve the quality of our core services because they will be consolidated in a single space."

PROVAIL will continue to operate its dental clinic which is located at 4200 Stone Way N., just up the street from its new headquarters.

Suzie Burke, PROVAIL's chairperson who is also a prominent Fremont business owner, is elated about the organization's return to the neighborhood. "It will really put (PROVAIL) in the center of their universe."

Burke also said she looks forward to PROVAIL becoming more visible and more connected to the rest of the neighborhood than before. "I remember my very first meeting with them," more than a decade ago. "I said 'You know, nobody in the community knows what goes on in this building."

In joining the organization's board of directors, Burke became impressed with the dedication of the staff and the quality of its services, which included helping people with disabilities get jobs and learn how to function in society. "The thing with cerebral palsy (in particular) is that it can happen to anybody," said Burke. "You don't catch it. It's an injury during birth that affects them their whole life. The only thing you can do is treat it. There's no cure, but it does not affect the mind at all. It's all about how it affects the body. There but the grace of God go I and my children.

"In the past, people used to put those with cerebral palsy in institutions. Fortunately, today, they don't have to be institutionalized anymore, thanks to the changes in technology and the increased openness of the community to adjust to mobility issues."

The organization's new building is being built in two phases. The first phase, which is nearly completed, consists of renovations to the existing building. Phase Two, which is construction of new space that will expand the current facilities, is scheduled to be completed in 2001.

To help pay for the costs of the move and the new building, PROVAIL is planning to launch a capital campaign to raise $4 million in donations from the public over the next year.

For more information, contact PROVAIL at 206-363-7303 or visit the organization's Web site at www.provail.org.