SPRINGDALE -- The Jones Center still embodies its founder Bernice Jones' mission and ideals 20 years after its opening in October 1995.
Jones died in 2003, about eight years after the center opened. Mary McKinney, the center's executive director from 2000 to 2008, referred to Jones as a visionary and someone who loved children. She said that the center was about investing to make a difference in people's lives.
"I think her impact is lifelong, everlasting," she said.
The center has made a difference for Melander Andrew, 15, who said he goes to the center three times a month and plays basketball with his friends. He said his life would be boring without the center.
Springdale Mayor Doug Sprouse said he grew up in the city and took his children to the center to ice skate when they were in school. The community needs to remember where the center came from, support it and take care of it, he said.
Early days
Joel Carver, a member of the center's board of directors, reflected recently on the day the center opened. The Springdale High School marching band played music, and a skydiver landed squarely on the Jones Truck Lines logo in front of the building, he said.
Bernice Jones and her husband, Harvey, had sold the building that houses the Jones Center and their business, Jones Truck Lines, before he died in 1989. But after the company that bought Jones Truck Lines went into bankruptcy, Bernice Jones bought the building back.
Jones Truck Lines' yellow logo with the letters "JTL" remains in various places around the building, like in front of the center and on a door in a corridor.
Carver said he began working with Bernice Jones on plans for the center in 1993, a year before remodeling of the JTL building began.
"It was totally redone," Carver said. "There's no comparison."
Sprouse said he remembers the building as a truck terminal. People were in awe when the center opened, he said.
"It was just an amazing transformation," he said.
When the center opened, it was a "world-class facility" and "surreal to everyone," McKinney said. The center's amenities, especially its ice rink, were unique for Northwest Arkansas. The rink is 85 feet by 185 feet, said Michael Kirk, the center's director of recreation, just shy of the size of a National Hockey League arena.
The building opened in phases, with the chapel and northern meeting rooms available first, Carver said. The southern meeting rooms, food court and ice rink opened in late 1996. The JTL shops, which currently house about 40 nonprofit organizations just west of the Jones Center, opened in February 1997. The pool and gymnasium were the last to open in the spring of 1997.
Jones intended for the facility to focus on education and recreation for families, McKinney said. Most activities were originally free to the public. It was supposed to help families who wouldn't normally be able to afford those activities.
"It put all people on the same playing field," she said.
The center opened as a place for outside groups to host programs, McKinney said. For example, the swimming program was run by volunteers at the time.
The programs were given the space and staffed by the center.
Another focus was inclusion, McKinney said. The center's employees helped welcome people from minority communities and helped them feel accepted, she said. Officials created a diversity and inclusion department to educate those populations about specific subjects, like driving laws to help them get their driver's licenses, how to enroll their children in school and the value of parents working with their children on homework.
"You can have diversity without inclusion, but you can't have inclusion without diversity," she said.
Troubled times
One of the center's own was was indicted Feb. 24, 1999, on 71 counts, including money laundering and mail fraud related to the Harvey and Bernice Jones Charitable Trust. A jury in Little Rock found H.G. "Jack" Frost guilty on 69 counts on Dec. 5, 2001.
Frost, an accountant for the Joneses, served time in prison, said Ed Clifford, president and chief executive officer of both the Jones Center and the Jones Trust, which supports the center financially.
"It was a serious situation," he said.
Frost stole more than $1 million, Carver said. He was in prison for just over two years.
The incident involving Frost didn't immediately change the direction of the center or the board of directors, Carver said.
Officials faced more serious monetary problems in later years, when the Jones Center was spending money faster than the Jones Trust could bring it in, Clifford said.
Most of the center's revenue was generated through interest on the trust's investments, Carver said. The recession that took hold around 2008 began to decrease the holdings of the Jones Trust. The trust once had investments totaling $49 million that sank to $23 million around 2008.
In 2009, center officials began charging for recreational activities like swimming and ice skating, Carver said.
The Jones Trust would have run out of money in three years, but officials changed The Jones Center's model in 2011, Clifford said. They reduced the amount of staff, from about 120 between 2009 and 2010 to about 50 now, excluding people working on contract, he said.
After the changes, outside programs began leasing space at the center and providing their own staff, Clifford said. The center has contracts with some people to work with specific activities.
Two boards of directors -- for the Jones Center and Jones Trust -- were combined during the changes, and the new board developed a strategic plan, Clifford said. The new board also began fundraising for an endowment to support the center. The center also began selling memberships.
"And then we just started growing like crazy," he said.
The changes aren't without a downside. Andrew said the center was better when activities were free. The new charges were difficult for many people to pay, and he said some of his friends stopped going to the center.
Moving forward
The center trended toward hosting its own programs once the model changed. Over the past year, the center has taken over management of figure-skating practice sessions and the Saturday morning ice-skating classes. It also added programs, like children's ballet, children's gymnastics, pickleball and the SilverSneakers Fitness program for senior citizens.
The center gets more than 1 million visits per year, Clifford said. It has 3,900 members, and that number grows every week.
The center still hosts outside groups, such as Ozark Figure Skating Club, Northwest Arkansas Community College, Springdale School District's School of Innovation and multiple swim teams, Clifford said. It's also a venue for weddings in the chapel and Special Olympics activities.
"We have just a whole host of recreation activities," Clifford said.
Leigh Parette of Fayetteville was sitting in the bleachers at the center's pool Thursday afternoon. Her daughter was swimming in a high school swim meet.
Not all local high schools have pools for their swim teams, Parette said. The center impacts many people's lives, she said.
"I honestly don't know what we'd do without the Jones Center pool," she said.
Officials with the center still try to help those who have trouble paying for activities, Clifford said. They do so by offering scholarships to about 30 percent of members. The amount of a scholarship depends on a person's income level but can cover up to 90 percent of their membership.
Steven Harris, 19, was with Andrew at the center on Feb. 6. He said he goes there a few times a week and is in the process of applying for a scholarship.
The fees the public pays for activities under the new model have helped increase people's sense of ownership in the facility, Clifford said. He explained that he sees less trash on the floor, and the facility requires less maintenance.
"People take care of a facility they invest in," he said. "It's their place, and they take care of it."
The center's monetary situation has improved because of donations, including major gifts from the George family of George's Inc. in Springdale and Walton Family Foundation in Bentonville, Clifford said. The endowment now totals $50 million in investments.
Metro on 02/17/2015