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Colville, Washington |
Friday, March 12, 2010 |
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Land purchased for new senior center |
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Wednesday, 08 July 2009 |
Colville Community Senior Center Foundation realizes goal
BY CHRIS COWBROUGH
S-E Editor
The Colville Community Sen¬ior Center Foundation took a big step recently when they pur¬chased a parcel of land on Wynne Street that will one day serve as the new multi-purpose home and meeting place for valley seniors.
The land, purchased for an undisclosed amount from Colville businessman Tony Booth, sits on a level site at the corner of Wynne and Elep and just off the Main Street corridor.
Local senior and senior citi¬zens’ advocate Glenda Pittman has worked tirelessly to get to this juncture. Pittman, who be¬gan rallying the cause for a new multi-purpose facility for seniors and Baby Boomers nearly a decade ago, is gratified that so many local residents and busi¬nesses—seniors and non-sen¬iors alike—have gotten behind the project.
“This is just so exciting,” Pittman said last week as she worked on the Colville Commu¬nity Senior Center membership drive. “Our goal has always been to make the senior center a reality. We are just that much closer now with the purchase of property.
“But we have a lot of work still to do.”
Pittman gave credit where credit was due to the Senior Center Foundation board of di¬rectors and site committee chairman Bob Anderson for their good works.
“I can’t say enough about our board,” Pittman said. “A lot of people have worked very hard to get to this point.”
Facility will appeal to a broad spectrum of seniors
Figure Pittman to be in the forefront of the next phase of the project—construction of a multi-purpose facility in the neighborhood of 5,000 square feet that will appeal to the younger seniors, the so-called Baby Boomers, and older sen¬iors.
Mrs. Pittman, who isn’t even sure a new facility should have the world “senior” in it, knows that the days of the stodgy sen¬ior citizen facility, with its em¬phasis on card parties and bingo, may be a concept whose time has passed.
After all, the Boomer Genera¬tion wants more.
With the number of retirees poised to swell to nearly 40 mil¬lion in the next five years, senior centers are scrambling to rede¬fine what they are all about and what they provide to a growing population of AARP-legal citi¬zens. If they are to stay rele¬vant, retooling facilities and programs offered to a growing senior citizen base in this country is a must.
“We need to be able to offer a lot of different things to a lot of senior age groups,” Pittman conceded.
By 2010, nearly 40 million Americans will be age 65 or older, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. By 2030, that number will jump to nearly 76 million.
Experts indicate that these Baby-Boomer retirees demand more and know more. They tend to be more active, better educated and more savvy than previous generations. They want more choices in everything from the meals they eat to the activities they participate in.
But those same experts say that today’s senior centers are too stodgy and sedentary. If they don’t change, those same Boomers may pass them by al¬together.
While Pittman is no Baby Boomer, she is plenty savvy and knows what she wants, what her board wants—and what the Colville community is looking for.
“We want to gear the center to our younger seniors,” Pittman said. “We want a multi-purpose facility that the entire commu¬nity can be proud of and that will mesh with the needs of our younger and older seniors.
Community asset
“This is going to be a real community asset…something that everyone can take owner¬ship in, be proud of and can serve our community for years to come.”
Pittman said senior center proponents hope to have the property paid for by the next wine tasting party fund-raiser in the fall.
Pittman, who still cooks for seniors at the Colville Commu¬nity Church on the first and third Wednesday of each month, admitted that senior center ad¬vocates didn’t leave many stones unturned as far as ex¬ploring possible locations for a new facility.
“We pretty much have looked everywhere in town for a site or for an existing building,” she explained. “This process was undertaken with a lot of care and a lot of love and commit¬ment. We all want this to be done right.”
While construction plans are still in the formative stages, the CCSC Foundation knows what it would like to see in a new fa¬cility. On the so-called “wish” list are a kitchen, game room, dining room, card room, an of¬fice, computer room, fitness room and maybe a theater room.
“We have a lot of work to do before we have a building on that site,” Pittman acknowl¬edged. “But there is an awful lot of support for this and we are going to get it done.”
Local seniors have already come a long way since the days of the drab, dingy confines of the old Draper building (the Senior Center started in 1978 in the Draper building).
“This is a very big step (land acquisition). Many people have said that when we have a loca¬tion and a site, they would be willing to help with the funding. Well, well have that site now.”
If you’d like to learn more about the project, call (509) 684-0029.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 15 July 2009 )
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