Groundbreaking held for Fort Oglethorpe youth center

Groundbreaking for the Lift Youth Center in Fort Oglethorpe.

FORT OGLETHORPE, Ga. (WDEF)-  A new youth center will soon be coming to Fort Oglethorpe.

Lift Youth Center held their groundbreaking this morning on Battlefield Parkway for the R. Randall Rollins Youth Center.

They will be repurposing a former church into this center which will provide various after-school activities for students.

They say this center will help them expand their reach with students on the west side of Catoosa County, as currently the organization only has one youth center in Ringgold.

“The number one thing is about relationships. The kids that come to this center, especially the ones that come a lot, reference the depth of their relationships with their peers because of the time at the center. At the school they’re just so busy, they’re just running all the time. When they get to hang out for a couple of hours with those same students, they are able to build more solid relationships that benefit them across the board,” said the executive director and co-founder of Lift Youth Center, Tina Pinkston.

Lift Youth Center expects this project to be completed by fall of 2025.

They also plan to expand their Ringgold center.