The History and Growth of the Renewal Center of the South

The Renewal Center of the South was incorporated in 1987.

The Renewal Center of the South's purpose is to operate a Center for Twelve-Step spirituality which duplicates the philosophy and program of The Hazelden Renewal Center (in operation since 1984), and which will also be affordable and accessible to the average Twelve-Step member in the Southeast.

In 1989 the Internal Revenue Service granted RCS tax-exempt status under Section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

The active effort to create the Center began in 1991 when Jesse Sell began full-time volunteer work for RCS. Gordon Grimm, then Senior Vice-President of Hazelden, suggested that Powell, Stump & Associates of Charlotte be retained to conduct a feasibility study. In September, 1991 Powell/Stump recommended that RCS begin an intensive effort to establish a basis of grass-roots support and financial credibility, and to identify a site for the Center. Four years were spent accomplishing those goals before the Capital Campaign was begun.

To date a mail/email list of more than 1300 persons interested in the project has been compiled.

In the summer of 1992 RCS contracted to buy a rolling, wooded site on the Dan River, north of Greensboro, NC, as the site for the Center. The land was purchased in the summer of 1993 and all indebtedness on it was paid off in 1995. Our 82 acres site is ideally located: accessible from I 85/I 40 at a point half-way between Washington, DC and Atlanta and near Piedmont Triad International Airport.

RCS has conducted sixty-four  weekend spiritual retreats at rented retreat sites, offering “forty-eight hour samples” of the RCS Program. These retreats have been well attended and positively evaluated, indicating that there is a constituency for the RCS Program of Spiritual Renewal.

Several Twelve-Step oriented treatment Centers have been helpful in allowing us to spread the message of our project to their alumni, at Conferences and through mailings. They include: Fellowship Hall; Amethyst at Charlotte and Laurinburg; Oakleigh at Durham; Pinehurst Treatment Center; the Wilmington Treatment Center; Pavillon International; and Carolina Manor at  Lumberton and the Dilworth Center in Charlotte.

The Renewal Center of the South opened on our Campus north of Greensboro June 6, 2008.

From incorporation until the opening of that campus, $875,700 in contributions was received from more than 500 donors, as well as $80,700 from interest and misc. revenues. Total fund-raising costs were $111,100 (12.7% of donations received).

From opening until July, 2010 an additional $56,400 in gifts was raised with fund-raising costs of only $3,700 (6.6%).