Imagine a place in your own community where you can go for a card game, voter information, a game of basketball, computer training, a healthy meal, personal essentials, a good book, and some good fellowship. You may not think it exists, but Fuquay-Varina has a place that offers all of this and more. Pine Acres Community Center has been offering help, hope, and hospitality for more than 60 years.
“Pine Acres Community Center is a hidden gem in Fuquay-Varina,” said Executive Director Bryan Haynes. “The Center has helped so many families in this community.”
The Pine Acres Community Center was founded in 1962, when community members purchased land on McClean Street near Lincoln Heights Elementary School. Founders James Rogers, Leroy Burton, Kever Jackson, Sr., and Forrest Newkirk, Sr., realized a need in the community for African Americans to have a safe place to gather for activities and fellowship during the height of the civil rights movement. It was a true community effort to fund and build Pine Acres Community Center. Due to the founders’ strong connection to Fuquay Consolidated School, the students from the school helped build the center—literally—by laying masonry bricks for the structure.
The community center has thrived over the years through immense volunteerism and donations from individuals, area businesses and faith-based communities. The entire board, including Bryan, who is also a town commissioner for Fuquay-Varina, are volunteers. Their parents or relatives also served on the board, so many of them grew up at the center, playing basketball, attending dances, or just spending time with friends.
“Pine Acres is a beacon for the community, a place for fellowship,” said Bryan.
As Fuquay-Varina’s first community center, Pine Acres has served many functions since its opening. The facility was primarily built for meetings and social gatherings, but the center has always tried to meet the needs of the community. Pine Acres has served as a polling place, held weekly youth dances, offered after-school and summer tutorial programs, and provided temporary worship space for area churches. The community center has also served as a Meals on Wheels partner for more than 20 years, offering a daily fellowship café where seniors can meet and play games. Furthermore, area youth have been showing off their basketball skills on Pine Acres’ full-size outdoor basketball court for decades.
Covid-19 brought on new needs in the community, and Pine Acres volunteers stepped up to the challenge. When schools closed, Pine Acres opened its doors to help kids keep up with their virtual classes. The center received donated computers, webcams, and headphones so the students could do their schoolwork in a supervised setting. Additionally, the community center partnered with Wake County Public School System to offer meals for kids to replace the ones they usually received in school.
The biggest challenge was feeding families in need while maintaining social distance requirements. Pine Acres organized a food distribution program where volunteers, civic organizations, and churches from the area and as far away as Fayetteville delivered 1,000 meals per day, six days a week to people living in Fuquay-Varina, Willow Spring, Holly Springs, and Apex.
“Most of these families had no way of coming to the center to get food,” said Bryan. “We had nine routes, with volunteers driving their own cars to help.”
Since Covid’s decline, Pine Acres has offered food distribution as a drive-through pick-up process that still feeds approximately 150 to 200 families twice a month, more than 25,000 meals in total. In October, their program started offering pick-up on the second Saturday of each month. Every family is given meat, fruits and vegetables, bread, and pantry items. No questions are asked of those receiving food. The center also offers toiletries and baby items. For those who cannot make it to food pick-ups or just need a little extra after hours, Pine Acres offers an outdoor pantry, donated by the Downtown Fuquay-Varina Rotary Club, so people in need always have access to food.
With schools closing during Covid, it’s easy to understand the need for children’s food services. Now, Bryan explains, the need has shifted. “Seniors are now the largest homeless population in the United States. For some, it is a choice between food and shelter. The services we provide help meet their needs, so they can keep living a good quality of life.”
Pine Acres Community Center continues to evolve as the community’s needs change. They currently have capital campaign projects to fund a community garden, upgrades to the computer resource center, and new playground equipment. Future plans for the center include gardening classes, a STEM program for youth, senior computer classes, and a music and podcast production area. All the center’s current and future programs are run by volunteers and local partnerships.
Bryan explains that the Pine Acres board and volunteers are dedicated. They do everything from distributing food to helping kids with schoolwork to mowing the lawn.
“It’s hard work. We get tired, but it’s worth it and we make it happen,” said Bryan. “The volunteers see the seniors happy, or a mother crying because she is getting a needed meal for her child. If there is a need, and we don’t have it, we figure out how to make it happen. The volunteers always work together to keep the building going.”
While the volunteers at Pine Acres Community Center are working hard to provide for the community, the center has some needs of its own. They need volunteers for food package assembly and distribution, especially as the holidays approach and the number of people needing food and necessities increases. They need contributions of food and money, and business partners to provide donations. Pine Acres is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, so donations are tax-deductible. If you are unable to help in these ways, you can assist by having your next function at Pine Acres. The facility is available to rent for parties, wedding receptions, reunions, baby showers, and any other special gathering you envision.
“We are so thankful for every person, business, church, civic and county organization, and so many more that have helped us in any way over the years because it would not be possible without your support,” said Bryan.
You can learn more about the many offerings at Pine Acres Community Center, and opportunities to help, by visiting https://www.pineacrescc-fv.com or facebook.com/PACCFV.
Over the years, Pine Acres Community Center has served many purposes, the most meaningful being a place for the community to come together to learn, laugh, love, and lend a hand.
Pine Acres Community Center • 402 McLean St. • Fuquay-Varina, NC 27526 • Email: PineAcresCC.FV@gmail.com
