Senior center in peril

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Oct 18, 2004 | by DEEDEE CORRELL THE GAZETTE

Margita Snyder, 84 and diagnosed with narcolepsy, can't drive a car.

She can get her groceries because her apartment building is across the street from a supermarket in Security. But she can't make it anywhere else on her own.

So every morning, a van from the Fountain Valley Senior Center takes her to the center, where she eats a hot lunch and catches up with friends.

"You feel so great, you feel happy," Snyder said. "It's the only place I have here that keeps me going."

Snyder and hundreds of others like her face the prospect of finding themselves without the one place dedicated to their needs if the senior center doesn't find a way to make up for a funding deficit next year.

The nonprofit center relies on the El Paso County Department of Human Services for most of its funding -- $350,000 of the $370,000 it takes annually to run.

County budget cuts for 2005, however, mean the center will receive just $50,000, Fountain Valley Senior Center Executive Director Tony Champaco said.

"I'm very worried," he said.

A task force has met for several months to figure out ways to find funding sources, including corporate sponsorships, donations, federal grants and fund-raisers.

The center has launched a "lifesaver" fund-raiser, asking businesses to donate at least $100. In exchange, the center posts an advertisement for the business.

Meanwhile, El Paso County Commissioner Jeri Howells said she's working with county officials to try to find money in the county budget to pay for the center through next year. Even if they find extra money, however, it probably won't be enough.

"They are in dire straits," Howells said.

The Human Services Department took severe budget cuts at the local and state levels, which in turn affect the senior center, she said.

Howells said she thinks the controversial decision by the county commission in 2002 to pay for the courthouse and jail expansions strained the general fund, which affects individual departments.

The center always has held small fund-raisers to supplement county funding and will try to do more of that, although craft shows and the like don't typically generate the amount of money needed.

That won't stop Snyder from helping. She said she's knitting afghans, scarves and booties to sell in the hopes of raising a few hundred dollars.

"I'll see if I can sell it. We need it so badly," she said.

For Snyder, the center provides something she can't find anywhere else -- companionship. "I feel lonely," she said. "And it's like a family, what you feel here."

That's only part of what the center offers, Champaco said.

It also serves a hot lunch and provides transportation for seniors and disabled people who can't drive, taking them to the grocery store, doctor's office and other places they need to go. Transportation accounts for 45 percent of the budget, Champaco said.

The center provides rides to 500 people and makes 19,000 one-way trips a year.

About 80 percent of its clients don't have another way to get around, according to a survey the center did.

Champaco said he doesn't want to think about which programs the center would cut.

The seniors who visit the center are aware of the problem, he said.

"It's upsetting. It's very upsetting," said Leona Carter, who visits the center to have lunch and see friends. "There's money being wasted at other places. This place is more important. I think the elderly should come first."