Senior Centers Seek Funds

PRAIRIE GROVE MEETS GOAL, LINCOLN STILL HAS NEEDS

Faced with the possibility of reducing its hours of operation this summer, Prairie Grove Senior Activity and Wellness Center appealed to the community and Northwest Arkansas last week, seeking donations to help reach its fundraising goal for the current budget year ending June 30.

Monday, center director Linda Willkie opened up an envelope that arrived in the mail and inside found a $20,000 check from an anonymous donor.

Willke said she did a “double take” when she saw the check and almost immediately started crying.

“It’s so gracious to have such a wonderful community,” Willkie said Monday night. “It’s just amazing. I was an emotional wreck.”

Prairie Grove and Lincoln senior centers reached out last week to tell people about their financial needs.

Senior centers in Washington County receive state and federal funding toward their budgets but

are still required to raise about 50 percent of their budgets through various ways, including fundraising events and client contributions for meals. The budgets are based on costs to operate the centers and how many people the centers project to serve during a year.

Prairie Grove is required to bring in about $ 30,000 through fundraising efforts but had only raised about $6,400 toward that total as of the end of December. Lincoln still needs to raise $41,500 during the next five months.

Willkie met with some of her seniors last week to talk about the crisis, telling them, “I’ve had a lot of sleepless nights because I worry how to keep these doors open.”

She told them the center might have to reduce its operating hours and reduce the hours of paid staff, if the money was not raised.

Prairie Grove has now met its 2017 goal because of the $20,000 gift and other donations, Willkie said, but she emphasized she still has to keep planning events to raise money for the center.

“You have to keep going and keep going,” Willkie said. “We don’t ever want to be in the place we were again. Next year, we’ll have a new budget and I’ll still need to raise $30,000.”

Jerry Mitchell, executive director of Area Agency on Aging for Northwest Arkansas, said the agency does not want to reduce services to senior adults and has no plans to close senior centers.

“These senior centers are very much needed out there,” Mitchell said, adding he believes if communities know about the financial needs of the centers, then people will respond.

“We’re making an appeal to the communities. Funding (from federal and state money) is not increasing but the cost of operation is going up.”

Prairie Grove Senior Center has a $ 130,000 budget. Its annual costs include $ 30,000 for food, $5,600 for utilities and about $55,000 for salaries.

Lincoln’s budget is $ 193,000 and the center is required to contribute $49,000 toward the budget through fundraising events. So far, Lincoln has only raised $7,500.

“So we’re a long way from our $49,000,” said Sue Parks, director of Lincoln Senior Center.

Parks said she does not believe the Lincoln center will have to reduce its hours because the center serves so many people and also because it provides meals for the Prairie Grove Senior Center.

She is, however, looking for ways to cut her budget, especially food costs. The center spends $6,000-$7,000 per month on food. Two ideas to reduce food costs are to increase the use of the regional food bank and to use more food from its freezer.

Prairie Grove Mayor Sonny Hudson attended Willkie’s meeting. Afterward he said the center had a similar situation several years ago and worked through it. He believes the same thing will happen this time.

“We raised awareness and I think we need to do that again now,” Hudson said. “We went out and talked to the public and talked about what goes on at the center.”

Farmington Senior Activity and Wellness Center is doing “extremely well,” said Director Tina Batlle. She said it is still a constant drive to raise money and she cannot let her guard down.

Batlle said she believes senior adults are “quickly forgotten” by their communities until there’s a dilemma like the deficits in Prairie Grove and Lincoln. The solution, she said, is to have a consistency of support from the community.

Senior adults in Prairie Grove say the senior center is important to them.

Jean Garrison said the Prairie Grove center has been a “lifeline” for her.

“I come for the fellowship, to see the people and because I needed to get outside my house,” Garrison said.

To donate to the centers, contact Sue Parks at 824-3861 or Willkie at 846-2794.

“I come for the fellowship, to see the people and because I needed to get outside my house.” Jean Garrison Prairie Grove Senior