Donation to be used for community center

By Staff
Melissa Cason
SPRUCE PINE – Spruce Pine will soon be opening their own community center thanks to a generous donation by a local resident.
Charles Taylor donated the white building, located beside the Spruce Pine Post Office, to the Spruce Pine Historical Society.
The building will become the community's first community center.
"Today my wife, Mary Ann, and I are donating this building and property to the Spruce Pine Historical Society to become the future home of the Spruce Pine Community Center," Taylor said during a gathering the building Tuesday.
"The donation is being made in memory of the six generations of the Taylor ancestry and their relatives, whose roots run deep in the community, and as a legacy of their lives and love for rural country life in Spruce Pine."
Taylor asked everyone in attendance to actively support the center and the renovations that are to come.
Historical Society President Jo Ann Gandy said the group is planning different fundraisers to benefit the center in an effort to renovate the building to serve the community. The group is also planning to have activities in the center for Spruce Pine Day in October.
"We will be having fundraisers to benefit the community center," Gandy said.
"We hope to have good support for this endeavor."
Gandy said the idea for the community center came about during the planning of Spruce Pine Day last year.
"We were talking about getting a community center," Gandy said. "Everyone else has one, so we thought 'why can't we have one."
With that discussion, work began on getting a community center.
"We are so thankful that Mr. Taylor decided to donate the building for our community center," Gandy said.
"We know it will serve our community well."