The North Carolina National Guard (Company A, 505th Engineer Battalion based in North Wilkesboro) works on the future site of the Alleghany Wellness Center on Collins Road. The site work, visible from the North Sparta Parkway, should be completed by October.

Wellness Center lands grants

The Alleghany Wellness Center (AWCI) got a much-needed boost recently when grading got underway at the future site of the center and the group was awarded a $300,000 grant from the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust. The National Guard arrived in Alleghany on June 15 and worked for the final two weeks of the month. They also plan to keep working to complete the grading through mid-October. The guard had also worked on the site on weekends in April, May and early June. The National Guard started moving equipment to the site of the proposed center on April 19. The value of the work has been estimated at $200,000. As for the $300,000 grant, it did not come with no strings attached.

Wellness Center Project Coordinator Carolyn Sprinkle said, "The $300,000 grant is contingent on us raising the balance of the money we need by March 2003. "Sprinkle said the center could be up and running by late 2003, if things go as planned. "Our plans are, if we can raise the rest of the money, to start construction in spring of 2003. "The group is turning back to the community, in an attempt to raise an additional $250,000, which represents the last funding needed to construct the center. "We desperately need financial support from the community," Sprinkle said.

AWCI's architect, Worley Associates of Richmond, Va., has said it will take between eight and 10 months to complete the project. "We have redone and redone our plans to make this project work," said Sprinkle, noting that the center was made one story rather than two to help control costs.

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