
The Senior Activity Center of Smyrna is growing. Fast. In the last two years, membership has grown 43%, reaching 790 members. But the building that they currently call home at 100 Raikes Street has the capacity for only 200 people according to the fire marshal.
“We need to raise six million dollars,” campaign chairman Steve Steele explained to those at a recent Capital Campaign Community Kick-Off Luncheon. “We have raised $2.2 million so far, but we need another $800,000 before the end of 2025 so we can go to the Christy Houston Foundation. They told us they are looking for a good project in the northern part of the county. Our members, many of whom are on a fixed income, have donated 21% of what we have raised so far. Now we need help from others in the community.”

Founded in 1971 by Patsy Brown, she decided there needed to be a place where seniors living in Smyrna could come together to enjoy fellowship and engage in fun activities after listening to a sermon one Sunday. The first version of the Senior Activity Center took place at the Methodist Church and annual membership was fifty cents. Initially, there were ten members.
The organization moved to a building that is currently the home of Smyrna’s retired police chief Kevin Arnold after outgrowing the Methodist Church, and then the city gave them the land for their current site. The building was built by students studying the trades at Smyrna High School with materials donated by local businesses like Crosslin Supply.
“Fifty years and many additions later,” said Brown, “we have outgrown it.”
Landlocked, if they try to build out the old building, they lose the precious few parking spaces that they have, and the building is not strong enough to support a second story. Once the new building is completed, they will be selling the existing site.
New land has been acquired from the Town of Smyrna. A feasibility study has been done by McPherson Consulting Group providing strong empirical data. And renderings have been completed by Dow Smith Company, LLC to help the organization share their vision of the new building. The lodge-like new club facility with a covered back porch will be set on more than five and a half acres of land with 200 parking spaces, offer 14,000 square feet of space with plenty of room for more activities, and opportunity for future expansion. It will also be more accessible with a covered portico driveway and more visibility from the street.
Becoming a refuge for the senior community in Smyrna, as one widowed member told Jimmy Pitts, who serves on the Board of Directors, “If the center wasn’t here, I’d be dead.” Every day there are multiple activities to keep those who might otherwise be alone in an empty home connected to others, having fun, learning new things, traveling, and contributing to the community.
Never having received federal funding, the Senior Activity Center depends on the $35 per year membership fee and “lots and lots” of fundraisers, as current executive director Fran Dunne shared. “As a matter of face, we are having a spaghetti dinner on August 16.”
Pitts says that the center offers a “legacy of care,” while Brown calls it a “labor of love.” She says it is a “heart thing,” as she has never received any compensation for the time and effort she has put into helping to make it succeed. And she says that she could not have done what she has done to keep moving the center forward without the wonderful executive directors they have had and have, and the support of her husband, Bill.
“I hope I am there when the first spade of dirt is lifted from the ground as the new building goes up,” added Brown.
To learn more about “Building on the Legacy,” click here. There are three ways to help get this capital campaign moving forward: spread the word, share the mission and/or make a contribution, even a small amount helps, added Steele.
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