Fayetteville Boys & Girls Club Expanding

Ronnie Brewer Jr., New Heights Church Help Make Project A Reality

STAFF PHOTO ANDY SHUPE 
Eric Henderson, 8, of West Fork takes a 3-point shot as he plays Monday in the main gymnasium at the Boys & Girls Club of Fayetteville. Club officials are planning the construction of additional space on the north side of the building to include a new gymnasium and classroom space.

STAFF PHOTO ANDY SHUPE Eric Henderson, 8, of West Fork takes a 3-point shot as he plays Monday in the main gymnasium at the Boys & Girls Club of Fayetteville. Club officials are planning the construction of additional space on the north side of the building to include a new gymnasium and classroom space.

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

— Leaders of the Boys & Girls Club knew they wanted room to grow in 2003 when the youth center opened off Rupple Road.

Construction crews even poured a concrete slab on the northeast side of the 78,000-square-foot building where a third gymnasium was supposed to go.

But without money for a full build-out of the project, plans for the gymnasium sat on the shelf.

Until now.

AT A GLANCE

Boys & Girls Club

Money to build the Boys & Girls Club of Fayetteville, 560 N. Rupple Road, came from a roughly $9 million grant from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation in 2000, along with donations from businesses and area residents. The city built a parking lot, recreational fields and a walking trail on 9 acres surrounding the center.

Source: Staff Report

Thanks to contributions from the Ronnie Brewer Foundation and New Heights Church, the gymnasium is becoming a reality. Eight classrooms and a teen lounge also will be added, according to Eric Schuldt, executive director of the club.

Schuldt said Monday designs for the 14,000-square-foot addition are 75 percent complete. He hopes to break ground on the project in April or May and complete construction by the end of 2014.

The gymnasium will provide more room for sports practices in the winter and popular summer programs when school is out, Schuldt said.

New Heights Church plans to use the classrooms for children and student ministry. The church has held Sunday morning services at the club for the past 10 years, Ben Richards, disabilities ministry director, said.

“We really feel contributing toward a project like this — to make it happen — is the best use of our church finances and just community resources in general,” Richards said. “They had a need, and we had a need for more space.”

“Most churches, as they grow in size, would be thinking about building a building,” he added. “This allows our church to be involved in a lot of things that wouldn’t be possible otherwise.”

Ted Jones, New Heights’ chief financial officer, was unavailable Monday, and Richards said he did not have exact figures for how much money the church is contributing. According to the church’s website, the building addition will cost about $3.2 million.

A $100,000 gift came earlier this year from the Ronnie Brewer Foundation, a charitable organization founded by Ronnie Brewer Jr., a former standout on the University of Arkansas basketball team who plays for the Houston Rockets.

The new gymnasium will bear Brewer’s name.

“It would have been totally impossible to do this without the contributions from these two organizations,” Schuldt said. “They’ve been great partners for the Boys & Girls Club.”

Carolyn Brewer, president of the foundation, said Monday the club, which used to be called the Fayetteville Youth Center, was a big part of her children’s youth.

“When we first moved to Arkansas, that was the first place that we went to for my kids,” Carolyn Brewer said. “We didn’t have a baby sitter or anybody. We went down to the Boys & Girls Club, and my kids just fit in with everybody. It didn’t matter how much money you had or what color you were.”

She said a gift to the club was a way for her son to give back to the entire community.

His foundation also donates holiday meals to families in need and provides a college scholarship to a Fayetteville High School student. Brewer and his father, Ronnie Brewer Sr., host an annual basketball camp at the Boys & Girls Club.