Cindy Horton, right, talks about the recreation center, as Sue Travis straightens shelves Wednesday, January 6, 2016 at the Rhea County Community Center.More Info
To find out more about RC3, visit rheacountycommunitycenter.org
The threat of a disrupted lifestyle ended for hundreds of Rhea County residents when a new community center, affectionately called RC3, opened this month.
“The Lord just opened door after door and we just kept walking through,” said Cindy Horton, Rhea County Community Center board chairwoman.
Up until Dec. 31, the facility operated as the only YMCA in the county for more than three decades. The YMCA of Metropolitan Chattanooga closed the building at the end of the year, stating it had lost more than $400,000 in the past nine years.
Horton was among dozens of Rhea County residents who expressed opposition to the closing and asked the city and area nonprofits to intervene. The National Association of Christian Athletes in Dayton is allowing the Rhea County Center to operate under its 501(c)3 status until it establishes its own nonprofit status.
The Y sold its exercise equipment to the city for $1. And the city is leasing the building to NACA for $1.
“It shows what happens when a community with such a strong history comes together,” volunteer David Holcomb said.
The after-school child care facility that once operated under the Y is still closed, but First United Methodist Church in Dayton is considering providing after-school care.
The Y-CAP program also ended with the Y, but area schools are discussing having a similar service club for youth, Horton said.
The gym is the only facility in the county offering a soccer program and swimming lessons in the summer, Horton said. There’s also aerobics classes, Pilates and cycling classes.
The gym, which is open every day, keeps the same hours and nearly the same fees. The individual monthly membership increased from about $36 to $38 a month.
In less than a week, the recreation center picked up about 150 individual and family memberships, which includes about 300 people.
The center also gained a handful of new members who were not affiliated with the former Y, Horton said.
The 351 Rhea County YMCA memberships expired when the Y of Chattanooga closed the facility at the end of the year.
At the community center on Wednesday, volunteers cheerfully vacuumed rugs and cleaned areas in the Silver Sneakers exercise room, which offers three classes a day, three days a week geared toward seniors.
“This exercise class means the world to a lot of us,” Neenah Willingham said. “We stretch and exercise muscles in places where you didn’t know you had muscles.”
“And there’s socializing,” said instructor Betty Legg.
Other seniors walk in the gym.
Seventy-year-old Rich Messer, who was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy, comes three times a week.
“It’s a blessing,” he said, “because it keeps me walking.”
And 19-year-olds Jacob Williams and Nathan Rothwell visit the gym to lift weights.
Williams said he comes daily and he was upset when he thought the facility would permanently close.
“I was devastated because I didn’t know where I was going to live.”
Contact staff writer Yolanda Putman at yputman@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6431.