Monday, the Community Recreation Center of Northern Mercer County in partnership with the Buhl Club in Sharon, cut the ribbon on the David Baughman Family Community Center located at 71 Columbia Avenue.

"A lot of things are leaving Greenville but there's not a lot of things that come to Greenville, so we're just so thankful and ready to welcome the community," said Jordan Batt, Program Director for the David Baughman Family Community Center.

The community center is located in the old East Elementary School in Greenville, which the Community Recreation of Northern Mercer County bought at auction and started renovating a few years ago.

"It's important because we haven't had recreation in this community for over a decade, a recreation facility I should say and we hope to be more than just a facility, we hope to partner with outside recreation projects and help them have a place to organize, have a place to sign up and have a place to practice perhaps in the winter months," said Rita Clemente, President of Community Recreation of Northern Mercer County. "It's just so very important to have recreation as part of a community and we are so grateful to have this center now."

Funding for the rec center came in the form of donations from several foundations and private donors.

It's named after David Baughman, a former Greenville resident and philanthropist whose family gave a sizable donation to the project.

"We felt it significant to name this building after him," Clemente said.

"It's a true testament to the Greenville community first of all," Batt said. "Everyone has came together for this and there really is no stone left unturned, whether it's Eckley's Appliances giving us our kitchen equipment or the Buhl Regional Health Foundation for their donation, truly just a community effort and it finally came to fruition with you know the fact that we have the pool tables and ping pong and the rooms are exciting."

With wellness rooms, a youth center and child development center, it will have something for all ages.

"For the adults, we'll have various yoga classes, aerobic classes, spinning classes, we have a wellness room and then a separate free weight room for kind of a different kind of workout," Batt said. "Moving down to the kids, we have a toddler room filled with age appropriate toys, we're in the youth center right now with ping pong, pool, various things like that and again just looking for kids to come socialize, different things and be part of the community, talk to each other and just enjoy each the facility. Also, for the elderly we have a silver sneakers program we are going to use and again more yoga classes and just our members lounge for socialization, coffee, cards, things like that."

The lower level, which features the child development center, will open in a few months and will focus on daycare, pre-school, after-school programs and Summer camps.

Family memberships are $40 a month, while $50 a month will get you a membership here and the Buhl Club of Sharon.

"We are trying to make it very affordable and that includes everything you see here in the center and we're just looking to not turn anyone away, you know, scholarships and things like that we are going to offer people so we are really excited so anyone who wants to improve themselves and better themselves we want them here at the Baughman Center," Batt said.

The David Baughman Family Community Center will have around 20 full-time and part-time employees and will be open Monday through Friday from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.