CHESAPEAKE — Over the past four years the Chesapeake Community Center has gotten a new lease on life as renovations to the aging building have upgraded it room by room.

That success has come from a core group of volunteers who have cooked kettles of pasta for spaghetti dinners, climbed up on the roof with shingles and nails or wielded a paint brush on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

And Ruth Damron, the center’s director, has just as many plans for the New Year.

“Our next project will be the floor in the gym,” she said. “We want to sand it and take it all the way down, sand it, varnish it and stripe it. And there are some spots we will have to replace.”

Two years ago Damron coordinated efforts to repair the leaky roof of the circa 1920 one-time Chesapeake school. Coming up with the money to fix it ran the gamut from getting approval for a portion of a Community Development Block Grant to church-sponsored spaghetti dinners to basketball camps, concerts and ghost hunts. All went together to come up with dollars needed to buy materials for the project.

The next project was installing a better lighting system in the gym where eight LED lights that had been given by an anonymous donor were installed. Then the windows were reglazed.

“We have a lot of kids who need the gym for practice,” she said. “We have Buddy Leagues and Zumba two nights a week.”

Along with the fundraisers those renovations came about when volunteers stepped forward to do the actual repairs and installation or make donations.

“People will just come in to help anytime there is anything to be done,” Damron said.

That’s why the center already has money in its rainy day fund set aside for the latest project.

“We had a little to start with, at least $5,000,” Damron said.

But funds coming into the center must also be spread to pay the monthly bills.

“Our utilities are outrageous,” she said. “We have $1,000 for the electric. It is really hard to pay the bills.”

That’s why Damron is hoping the center can be qualified again as a recipient of United Way funds.

“That’s $2,500 and it helps to pay the bills,” she said. “And we are going to try to work on some grants. You try and try and you may get it or not. But we are going to give it a shot.”

“We are going to try to work on grants. You try and try and maybe you get it or not. But we are going to give it a shot.”