Background

I have mentioned, on several occasions, the Frontier Senior Center here in Anderson. It is a facility that the community, and particularly the seniors, are quite proud of. There is good reason for that. It is entirely self-supporting and is owned by the seniors who are served. There are no dues or fees for membership. The only 'outside' funds are from a grants, which are limited to those which provide services for seniors that the center could not otherwise handle.

About twenty years ago a local company outgrew their office and warehouse facility adjacent to the downtown in Anderson. They relocated to a larger facility in a much more accommodating area. The former building became available and a few forward thinking individuals realized that the likelihood of finding another company that would be able to or want to use the building was highly unlikely because of the location. The same individuals also realized that senior citizens in the southern part of Shasta County were having to travel to different locations to participate in the various activities and that there was no place in the South County to serve the meals provided by the Senior Nutrition Program. Ironically, these folks all knew one another, had these ideas concurrently and were in a position to do something about it.

They brought together the non-profit groups providing services and interested community members, who were shown the benefits of having a facility of their own. Then someone was able to convince the property owner that there were some tax advantages to selling the property to a non-profit. The long and short of it is that between fund-raising and loans a building with lots of parking was purchased and remodeled to include a commercial kitchen, dining room that seats upwards of 100 people, a (for want of a more descriptive word) ballroom that can accommodate 200 easily, a computer lab, library, small meeting room, storage space and offices. To top it all, the heating and air conditioning was upgraded to keep these spaces comfortable under all conditions.

So now there's a senior center. Now there's the issue of how to pay to operate it. The simple answer is rents and fund raisers. The really hard work was creating the coalition that formed to purchase and remodel. Three of the groups in that coalition were already paying to use other, less than ideal, facilities. Those monies would just be used to rent the new facility for their events. The seniors who frequent the center are not charged for anything but they are encouraged to donate at the activities in which they participate. There are various once a year fundraisers that probably generate more in the way of visibility in the community than they do in funds. Then there are the three major constant sources of income: 1) Bingo, which is held twice each week; 2) the thrift shop, which operates at a separate location six days a week; and 3) the monthly community breakfast on the first Sunday of each month except July. All three of these are operated entirely by volunteers who are entirely supervised by other volunteers.

Not that there aren't any employees. There is a full time manager who handles all of the administrative stuff, like making sure there's TP in the restrooms; that the various rooms are cleaned after activities; that the place gets opened in the morning and closed at night; and answers the phone sometimes. There is also a part timer who is there because someone has to be in charge of the meals that are delivered from the Senior Nutrition Program, which has propitiously posted some photos of the Anderson site. Both of these ladies are dedicated to the success and wellbeing of the center.

Anyway, now you know that the breakfast that we serve eleven times a year is only a wee small drop in the bucket of what is done to support the center. The one thing that the center is proud of is that the only public funds which are received are those that are contributed voluntarily.