Grant to reopen Allendale Community Center

In 2024, the Allendale Community Center will reopen after having been closed down for several years due to an unrepaired leaky roof.

The reopening will happen after necessary repairs are made to the roof and the interior of the building, which will be funded by a $25,000 grant awarded by the Hometown Economic Development Council (HEDC).

The grant, called the Homestead Grant, was a project of Allendale Town Council member Marlon Creech, who made reopening the Allendale Community Center part of his campaign for office. In addition to the Town of Allendale, up to 11 other cities received a $25,000 grant from HEDC.

“I feel like the community center is a flagship for Allendale,” Creech said. “It was kind of disappointing to see it being down for so long. I just wanted to make sure that I got the community center up and running again.”

The lack of funds needed to repair the community center kept it closed for years, said Creech, who serves on the town council’s housing committee.

“A major thing was you had various roof problems with it, a lot of leaks,” Creech said. “It caused a lot of damage on the inside of things. It was the most costly thing that needed to be addressed.”

Allendale resident Yurlanda Simmons, who helped Creech write the grant, said that being able to reopen the community center will provide a space for community members to gather that previously didn’t exist.

“When I found out that we got the grant, it was just like a light shining in a dark place,” Simmons said. “There’s a lot of good people in our community doing good things and they may just need a facility.”

Simmons said she believes the return of the community center will create hope for many residents of Allendale, particularly the impoverished.

“Those that are stricken with poverty can get stuck feeling that this is how things always have to be, [that] this is how things are always going to be,” Simmons said. “To be able to have an entity like the community center open up … can and will provide hope for our children and those that are suffering in the community because of poverty.”

One of the stipulations of the grant is that cities that receive the grant must match a certain amount of the grant, depending on the population of the city. For Allendale, which has a population of 2,682, the town will be required to contribute 5 percent of the grant, or $1,250.

Simmons hopes that the reopened community center can be used for educational gatherings that help strengthen and inspire the community in addition to parties and social gatherings, which the community center previously hosted.

“This is not just going to be another building where people are going to be able to just throw parties,” Simmons said. “People are going to come here and have their lives enriched.”