Where there’s a will there’s The WAY.No doubt about it – it’s taken a whole lot of will to put “The Way” in Waynesburg!
Just ask Jonathan Johnson and Jared Edgreen, two dynamic churchgoing guys who were there when First Baptist Church of Waynesburg purchased Belko Market at 209 W. High St. after it closed in 2019. The church and its supporters began making plans for a community center to enrich the lives of families living in and around town. Families with limited purchasing power or access to rides. Kids unable to afford being on sports teams or pay for memberships at activity centers and summer camps. Families needing a safe place to build back better, with access to opportunities they might not otherwise have.
This is a story best told by hanging out with board members slash hardworking volunteers Johnson and Edgreen inside the gutted interior of Waynesburg’s old grocery store building with its promising new signage – “The Way Community Center of Greene County” – underscored with contact information, just in case someone passing by, maybe you! – is ready to get involved.
The empty interior seems to stretch forever, back to the far walls, lit by long strings of lights, punctuated by architectural images hanging from rafters that show what will be here someday. The floor is marked with layout lines for that future– a multipurpose center space for games or a stage for up to 400 people, over here the professional food court kitchen for kids to address food insecurity or some future entrepreneur to bake best selling cookies, rows of multipurpose classrooms, doorways to courtyards, walkways and benches surrounding the Way, the way it will be as the dream is realized, one finished project at a time.
When Covid-19 closed Pennsylvania on March 13, 2020, the world Zoomed into virtual living and the “Coming Soon!” promise on the Baptist Community Center sign would have to wait. But the will was strong and the rest of 2020 was spent holding virtual meetings, making calls to donors and texting plans and ideas back and forth as the First Baptist Church reached out to other churches, business, educators and non-profits to pinpoint the needs of Greene County kids and their families.
A capital Campaign for “Walking Together” kicked off and a virtual tour of the dream center was created. Donations poured in. But as the pandemic wound down, building costs were rising.
“We were part of the board of Coalition for a Brighter Greene so when First Baptist approached us, we as a coalition board decided we want to expand our mission, our vision and horizon with a brick and mortar location, to continue the ecumenical work we’ve already done in the community – all under one roof,” Johnson said.
In 2022, the coalition transitioned “Walking Together” to The Way Community Center of Greene County, an educational non-profit. Working around the rising costs, member volunteers rolled up their sleeves and got to work.
“We decided to gut the interior ourselves and saved more than $100,000,” Edgreen said. The bids that contractors gave then are still tied to inflation, both men admit. Still, this “Swiss army knife” of a building with its multipurpose usages is coming along, one project at a time, starting with the exterior and the roof, which will be raised in one section as well, Edgreen said.
The Way is already in action, helping manage Cherry Door Thrift Store, bringing The Way to Read in district schools and a basketball camp is coming up in “a couple of weeks,” Johnson said.
“We take a lot of ideas from Urban Impact, a community center on the North Side (of Pittsburgh) that’s been around for 26 years. So we know our community center is going to make a long term commitment for generational change.”
Giving new ideas a place to thrive is an important factor, Johnson noted “We’re hoping The Way will be the place where, if you have a great idea and it works within our mission, come on in, we’ll give you a space to do it. Those who use the space will help pay for the building, keep the lights on. We’ll be depending on lots of volunteers, maybe have a couple of staff to keep cost at a minimum so anybody can utilize it. This is community action in a real way.”
For more information and to see the virtual tour: thewaygc.org or call 724-201-2060
