ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Wednesday, April 2, 1997               TAG: 9704020042
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-1  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: S.D. HARRINGTON 

ROANOKE COLLEGE GETS FITNESS MONEY

A $750,000 donation from the Belk Foundation will remedy overcrowding.

Armed with a $750,000 donation from the Belk Foundation, Roanoke College will begin planning a new campus fitness center.

Mac Johnson, the college's vice president for student affairs, said the current fitness area near the lockers of Alumni Gym is overcrowded. A new facility has been on the college's wish list, although no plans have been drawn.

Now that the college has the funds, a committee will be organized to plan it. Johnson said the college should be able to begin construction within a year.

The Charlotte, N.C.-based foundation was started by the owners of Belk department stores. A member of the Belk family, Mary Claudia Belk, graduated from Roanoke College last year. As a member of the track team, she knew about the overcrowding problems in the fitness center, Johnson said.

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