Report On New Senior Center To Be Disclosed On Tuesday

Members of the South Hill Senior Center are meeting on Tuesday to hear the details of the feasibility of building a new center.

The meeting begins at 1 p.m. at the center. A $3 luncheon is scheduled for noon, with reservations required a day in advance.

Seniors are going to hear recommendations on how to raise money for a new $1 million senior center that would be centrally located on the South Hill. The recommendations are based on a fund-raising feasibility study conducted earlier this year.

Currently the senior center occupies leased space at the Lincoln Heights Shopping Center, 2727 S. Mount Vernon.

Myrna Johnson-Ross, director of the center, said the general membership will be asked whether to accept the study and its recommendations.

She would not elaborate on details of the report until the general membership meeting is held.

The feasibility study was prepared by Adams & Associates through a $6,500 grant from the Spokane Parks and Recreation Foundation.

“It’s probably the most important meeting we’ve ever held at the senior center,” Johnson-Ross said.

The current senior center doesn’t have a commercial kitchen. Lunches and dinners often are prepared elsewhere and carted into the center.

There aren’t enough classrooms, and some programs are held upstairs, making it difficult for some seniors because there is no elevator between the ground floor and the one above.

Currently the senior center pays the building owner $37,600 a year for the 9,000-square-foot space. The lease money would be available to make payments on a new senior center.

An initial feasibility study called for finding a 2.5-acre site near Lincoln Heights. A new building would be about 12,000 square feet with parking and would be accessible to handicapped seniors.

Johnson-Ross said the senior center board must decide whether to buy property first and then raise money for a building or wait and purchase the site and building at the same time.

Already, the center has started raising money.

A plant sale is scheduled for Friday and Saturday in front of the Hastings video and music store at the Lincoln Heights Shopping Center.

On sale will be about 1,000 starter plants donated by South Hill gardener Richard Herrmann, who raised the plants in his backyard greenhouse this year. The plants will sell for $1 to $1.50.

Included in the sale is a large supply of geraniums started from seed.

The sale hours are 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday.

, DataTimes