Advance Senior Community Center to close

Wednesday, July 22, 2015
MADELINEDEJOURNETTadvancensc@sbcglobal.net The Advance Senior Community Center, which has been in operation since October, 2006, is closing, due to rising food costs and low attendance.

Mayor Carl "Pete" Ritter and Advance Senior Community Center Board Chairman Chester Powers announced Friday that the senior center could no longer remain in operation.

"So many of our patrons have died or gone into nursing homes, that we can no longer maintain a large enough crowd to support the center," said Powers in a phone interview Friday. "When we factored in the cost of food, we could see that we were going in the hole each week. There are younger seniors out there in the community, but they aren't coming to the center."

Powers is hopeful that the center can be able to cut back to a once-a-month meal temporarily, in hopes that conditions will change in the future.

"I would also like to remind people that you don't have to be a senior to eat at the center. We welcome everyone," Powers explained.

The original Advance Senior Center was built with volunteer labor in the late 1970's, using bricks from the old Methodist parsonage. The center functioned until July 15, 2005, when supervisor Edith Ford retired. In its heyday, the center had served meals to crowds as large as 117 people.

In October, 2006, the nutrition center was re-opened by volunteers of the Advance Community Team (ACT), under the direction of Judy Beussink and a team of supporters. Mayor James Harnes and the late Gary Capps (Stoddard County Industrial Development Coordinator) organized the ACT in order to tackle some of the issues the mayor saw in the community.

The building belongs to the City of Advance, which maintains it but does not fund the meal program. The program is funded by private donations, since no help is available through the Area Agency on Aging or any other government agency. A nine-member board of trustees supervises the operation with the approval of the Advance Board of Aldermen. The cook is the only paid employee. The current center has been averaging approximately 45 meals a week, serving on Fridays.

"We feel that we have an obligation to use our donated funds wisely," Powers explained. "We don't want to continue to lose money each week, until there's nothing left."

The senior center board of trustees will meet on Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015 to brainstorm for ideas on how to keep the center open.

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