For years, the idea of having a community center for the village of Leipsic was just that - an idea. It wasn’t until the new pastor for the Leipsic United Methodist Church came to town and decided to hop on board with working on the community center.
"They told me about a vision that they had for 10 or 12 years about doing something in the community, and I began to pray about it and got a sense that God was ready to move so I invited all the leadership team and just talked about vision," said Steven Weatherly, pastor of Leipsic United Methodist Church. "We agreed that I could lead them through that, and so it's just been a blessing these last two years."
Now, the 6 million dollar facility is complete and located on Main Street, with two floors of meeting spaces and sport courts and even a Leipsic museum for the community to come in and enjoy. Since the project was such a long time coming, the director of the Leipsic Community Center says it’s amazing to finally be able to open the doors to the public.
"It is really kind of hard to put it into words to be honest with you, it's been so much energy, so much time getting this ready, the excitement is unbelievable," said Kristen Pickens, director of the Leipsic Community Center.
One of the purposes of the community center is to help out those that might need some assistance with finding a job, and there are resources available inside the center, making the whole process more convenient.
"There are classes covering Excel, Google docs, there's resume writing, interviewing skills, all kinds of classes, art classes, photography classes," Pickens said.
The center also features a cafe, a youth center, and a pharmacy for the public to use.
