Supporters of the Moore County Senior Enrichment Center are already on the way toward their $1.5 million fund-raising goal.

In an update for the Moore County Board of Commissioners Monday, Director of Aging Suzanne LaFollette-Cameron reported that the campaign was launched earlier this month and that, “The courtyard is already spoken for.”

Architect Mark Wright of the MacRae-Bell Associates firm of Greensboro unveiled scaled drawings of the center he has designed for the initial phase of the facility to be erected on a four-acre tract off N.C. 22 adjacent to the Children’s Center in Southern Pines.

“The committee working with Mark has been pleased,” said Charles Kerr, vice president of Resources for Seniors Inc., the nonprofit group spearheading the movement. “He has made this an outstanding experience. We’re very comfortable with the design.”

Wright said he and committee members visited two similar facilities in other communities and met with Southern Pines town zoning officials and with the Children’s Center administration “for a neighborly discussion” about the design before he put his ideas on paper.

The architect said there should be advantages for both centers because of their proximity. They can, for example, share a drive and parking amenities.

“It’s a win-win situation in cooperating with the Children’s Center,” Wright said.

The 14,138-square-foot first phase of the Senior Enrichment Center carries an estimated construction cost in excess of $1.4 million. Startup funding for such things as purchase of two acres and the architect’s fees is coming from grant money already received or pledged for the project. However, money for construction must come from the fund-raising campaign.

Wright estimated that the building will cost an estimated $100 per square foot.

It is further estimated that it will cost an additional $175,000 to furnish and equip the facility once it is completed.

LaFollette-Cameron’s comment about the center courtyard was a reference to some 34 areas designated as gift name opportunities, a feature of the fund-raising campaign.

At the top of that list is a name for the center, an honor available for a $500,000 contribution. For $200,000, another donor may choose a name for the large meeting and multi-purpose room. For $100,000, names may be chosen for the exercise room and computer room, with a $135,000 figure for the lobby and reception area.

Donor name designations go down to the $3,500 level for such places as offices and classrooms.

Contributors who give $100,000 or more to the campaign will be classified as Diamond donors, those giving $50,000 to $99,000 as Platinum, and those between $25,000 and $49,000 as Gold. Other categories are: Silver, $10,000 to $24,999; Bronze, $5,000 to $9,999; Leadership, $1,000 to $4,999; Community Spirit, $500 to $999; Friends of the Center, $100.

Although a third of Moore County’s population is 55 or older, it is one of only seven counties in North Carolina without a senior center. LaFollette-Cameron estimates that the facility will serve 6,000 to 7,000 persons within a year of completion and probably as many as 15,000 within 10 years.