Daniel Craig, on left, and Eric Lampkin work on the roof of the new White City Community Center Thursday afternoon. 

More than two years after heavy damage from a tornado caused it to be torn down, the exterior of the new White City Community Center has been constructed — but more fundraising is needed to complete the interior of the building. 

The White City Community Center has been used by the members of the community as a meeting place, event venue and voting precinct for more than 50 years, but it was damaged in the EF-1 tornado that struck the area in March of 2019. 

After the center was deemed too damaged to repair, it was soon torn down and fundraising efforts by the community center’s five-person board of trustees began, said Trustee Chairman Roger Starnes.

“We started getting our game plan together,” he said.

Because White City is an unincorporated area and not part of any of the county’s municipalities, there are not many grants that the board of trustees have been able to apply for, so construction efforts have mainly depended on private donations and support from the Cullman County Commission, he said.

The community center also sits on the site of the old White City School, and some of the school’s alumni have been generous in donating funds to rebuild the center that usually holds their class reunions, Starnes said.

The fundraising efforts have brought in around $33,000 so far, which has been enough to pour the concrete slab and build the center’s walls and roof, but the interior of the building — the bathrooms, kitchen, wiring and plumbing — will require more money before they can be installed, Starnes said.

“All that’s got to go in and it adds up in a hurry,” he said. 

Starnes said the early estimates to complete the work on the interior and purchase the needed supplies and appliances are around $50,000 to $60,000, so that is the next fundraising step for the trustees.

“That should get us to where we can finish it nice,” he said. 

He said community center sits on a seven-acre plot of land, so there is room to expand if the funding ever comes available, and some of the ideas floated for the future include maybe creating a park space or walking trails, but raising the money to finish the building has to come before any of those plans can be expanded upon. 

For now, all donations are welcome to help White City residents have their gathering place back, Starnes said. 

Anyone interested in donating to the community center’s rebuilding efforts can send a tax-deductible contribution to White City Community Center C/O Candy Reeves at 1599 County Road 617 Hanceville, AL 35077.

More information about the construction and fundraising effort can be found at the White City Community Center of Cullman County Facebook page.