It was an excited group that gathered in the conference room of Citizens’ Bank in Loxley. It’s not every day you see a check for $5.6 million.

That’s the loan the Association for Retarded Citizens of Baldwin County received from the United States Department of Agriculture - Rural Development to construct a new training center in the Robertsdale Industrial Park.

“The reason we are building it (the facility) is twofold,” said Kathy Fleet, the executive director of ARCBC. “Second, we are going to build the facility to withstand winds of 200 mph, so in a disaster we can house up to 200 clients, not including staff. The first reason for all this is to build a training facility.”

“We teach how to act in public,” said Fleet. “That gives clients an opportunity to socialize.”

Association for Retarded Citizens expands in Robertsdale