New life has come to the more than 40-year-old Rose Hill Community Center thanks to some devoted residents and the Wiregrass RC&D Council.

The RC&D Council donated $5,300 to make the facility handicapped accessible, as well as to upgrade the center’s restroom facilities and purchase new equipment such as a new kitchen area and new tables and chairs.

“The old facilities looked like a filling station about to be abandoned,” said Wayne Reynolds of the Soil and Water Conservation District. “Now they look so nice.”

Project Director Roger Moore said it cost an estimated $12,000, while additional costs, including the labor, were furnished with funds from the Rose Hill Fire Department.

“The upgraded restrooms have made the facility safer, healthier and more user-friendly, especially for our senior and handicap citizens,” Moore said. “The completion of the Rose Hill Community Center project has made the community a better place.”

Rose Hill resident Gary Moore was the contractor for the project, and local businesses were used for the supplies.

Ben Moore, another Rose Hill resident and Crenshaw County District Conservationist said that people have already begun using the facilities since the upgrade.

“They have square dance lessons here,” he said. “And people are renting it out.”

The facility is also used as a voting precinct.

“An open house will be held in the near future to thank RC&D, local legislators, volunteers and others for their contributions in completing the project,” Roger Moore said.