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	August 29, 2002 DuBois dream becoming a reality by Carol Pelosi, Wake Weekly Editor "My cousin had this dream," Evelyn Jones began. Her cousin was Mary Elizabeth Winston, who died three years ago, and her dream was that all the people who had attended DuBois School, whether for a day or 12 years, would gather to relive the days when the school was the heart of Wake Forest's black community. Winston's enthusiasm infected others, Jones said. People began organizing, "families called each other," and 29 years ago the first reunion was held. DuBois School was already in the past then. The last class graduated in 1969; in 1970, when Wake County integrated its schools, the campus became the Wake Forest-Rolesville Junior High. It closed in 1989 when the new middle school campus on South Main opened. Windows were boarded over; roofs began to collapse. By 1998 the 150 or so DuBois alumni had formed a nonprofit corporation and formulated an ambitious dream -- to purchase the old campus and turn it into a community center. The purchase price the county asked was $350,000, a high price for seven disintegrating buildings. "We've taken the liability off their hands," Bettie Murchison, the director for the DuBois Center, said. After four payments, the debt now is about $210,000. Despite the crushing weight of the mortgage, the alumni are achieving their dream. Murchison was the volunteer, then the part-time director; now she works there full time. Thanks to the efforts of Clarence Forte and many other volunteers as well as financial help from the town, the gym has been redone -- new heat and air conditioning, new paint, floors sanded and shiny. This fall, work has begun on the former shop and agriculture building which will soon house a police substation, a community meeting room and a technology center. Now, Murchison said, the students and the senior citizens who use the center's six computers after school and on Saturdays do so in a small room off the gym. "We manage, but it will be so much nicer to have a room just for that." In fact, Murchison has six brand-new computers she will not unpack until she can do so in the new room. Computers are only a small part of the programs planned for this fall at the DuBois Center. The lineup includes

Project 2003, a partnership with WF-R High. See associated story.

The DuBois Scholars, an after-school tutorial program directed by Jones with volunteers from Wake Forest Baptist Church, area high schools and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary students.

A midnight basketball league for young men 18 through 30. The league needs coaches, players and officials.

A Girl Scout troop led by Gail Tompkins that meets Wednesdays.

The DeBois Lions Marching Band members just completed a drum camp. It meets Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 to 8 p.m.

Brother 2 Brother is a male mentoring group.

The Truth & Soul Institute led by Ron Lewis is a year-long drug and alcohol abuse prevention program targeting parents and children.

Tobacco Talk, funded by Wake County Human Services, gives youth a chance to learn how tobacco use affects young bodies. They will produce a video for use in public schools.

If I Had A Hammer. Funding has been applied for this program to weatherize the homes of senior citizens while teaching new skills to teens and unemployed adultls.

Adult computer classes are held Saturdays from 10 to noon led by Pam Jones Leathers.

Teen Advisory Council/Teen Club. The council helps to determine future projects at the center.

The Wake Forest Food Pantry is guided by the community-wide CareNet and offers opportunities for most of the principles Murchison preaches -- dignity, helping others and community service.

"It's important to build community service," especially with youngsters, Murchison said. "It's a way for children to give back to the community." And she wants to reach those youngsters whose parents may not care or know how to care for them. "Those are the ones I want," she said.

With the help of neighborhood children and adults, Murchison sets up the gym like a grocery store, allowing people to choose their canned goods and staples. Masons, led by Guy Jones, help people take their groceries to their cars and deliver bags to the widows and other homebound people who need help. The food distribution takes place on the third weekend of the month, "when the food stamps run out," Murchison said. The center feeds between 80 and 90 families a month.

DuBois Center must stay true to the original purpose for the land, Murchison said. When the school first began, "The people who gave the land (the Simmons family) gave it on the condition it would always be used for education."

"We had no idea it would grow into this," Jones said Saturday as she was checking in fresh-faced youngsters for Project 2003.

"It's no longer a dream; it's a reality."