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Miller Center for Recreation and Wellness

EAST BUFFALO TOWNSHIP — It’s been a few years in the making, but a recreation and wellness center in Union County is hitting its stride. The Miller ...

EAST BUFFALO TOWNSHIP -- It's been a few years in the making, but a recreation and wellness center in Union County is hitting its stride.

The Miller Center celebrated a grand opening last summer but invited us in a few weeks ago to see what they've rolled out since.

Just outside Lewisburg, in Union County, the Miller Center for Recreation and Wellness is just about finished.

"Just a couple little things, little paint, little electrical, but for the most part everything here is open and operational," said Drew Kelly.

Kelly, executive director of the Miller Center, met us in the cafe. Workers there whip up healthy offerings like pizzas and salads, smoothies too, and it's open to the public.

Kelly wanted to give us the grand tour of the place he says is meant to offer a holistic approach to health and wellness.

The Miller Center offers an 18,000 square-foot gym facility, a field house with hard courts and turf space, and child care -- $2 for 90 minutes so mom or dad can get a workout in.

The treadmills boast smart technology that keeps you from getting bored. There are various classes for all age and fitness levels, but Kelly points out this is more than just a gym.

The Miller Center is a nonprofit, a registered 501-(c)(3), conceived as a gift to the community from the Miller family, the lifelong Lewisburg residents behind playground equipment company Playworld Systems.

The Miller Center practices what it preaches. The vending machines contain healthier options, no soda in the house.

It has fostered partnerships like the one with Kathy Fedorjaka. She spent 16 years as head women's basketball coach at Bucknell University, and since leaving about five years ago, has formed a youth basketball coaching group called Next Level Strong.

"We did not have a facility like the Miller Center at the time, so I went to the Muncy Y, Bloom Y, traveling all over the region," Fedorjaka said. "Anywhere we could, just to create it."

"We have about 750-plus kids involved in the Next Level Strong program," Fedorjaka added.

Kelly points out that's just one example of what they'll be able to offer at the Miller Center and looks forward to hearing what the community wants it to be.

"We call it your 'third place.' It's not home. It's not work. It's your third place," Kelly said.

How much membership costs at the Miller Center depends on how you want to use it. There are afterschool memberships for kids only, all the way up to full gym memberships.

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