Senior center seeing increase in clients

Yahoo

29-01-2025

A new Senior Community Center of Owensboro-Daviess County facility is more than a year from opening, but the excitement around the direction the center is headed is already having an impact on the number of clients it's seeing.
The senior center had 316 new members in 2024, which pushed its active membership to more than 1,000.
'That's a real good year,' said David Tucker, executive director of the facility, about the influx of members. 'We have a lot of seniors that have come in and joined us and said they're trying to get into a routine so that when we get in the new building they will be set and ready. And we've seen an increase in January, more so this year than any year since I've been here, with people coming to exercise.
'We had really not seen that the last few years that I've been here, but this year it seems to be a big thing for January.'
Tucker said attendance at the senior center has climbed steadily since it reopened in 2021 following the COVID-19 pandemic.
'We were blown out of the water when we reopened in 2021 by how many seniors came back to us and how many brand new seniors joined us,' he said. 'Then it's been just a steady climb ever since then.'
The senior center served just under 100,000 meals in 2024 between congregate meals, Meals on Wheels and frozen meals.
'The meal provider is Five Star, and they do a fantastic job cooking the meals for the seven-county (Green River Area Development District),' Tucker said. 'I think they're somewhere around 900 to 1,000 meals a day that they're cooking out of the kitchen, and then we get the opportunity to serve it and deliver it.'
The senior center serves congregate meals at five locations: the senior center, Park Regency, the Roosevelt House, Adams Village and the Whitesville Senior Citizens Center. More than 28,000 total meals were distributed among the sites.
It also has about 250 Meals on Wheels clients, with just under 65,000 meals served.
'That program fluctuates slightly,' said Tucker about Meals on Wheels. 'But not so much in the last year. Before COVID, we had 120 Meals on Wheels clients, and during COVID it went to 500, and then we've settled back down to around 250 is our average over the last year.'
Meals on Wheels also served nearly 6,500 frozen meals through a partnership started in 2017 with Morrison food service and Owensboro Health Regional Hospital.
'We have a group of volunteers that come in three days a week and they go out to the hospital and pick up food that Morrisons has to donate, bring it back here, and they make the frozen meal trays,' Tucker said. 'Then we've identified those seniors that receive Meals on Wheels who have the food insecurities.
'They're offered to those folks as an opportunity to have meals for Saturday and Sunday.'
Meals aren't the only growth area. The senior center saw more than 11,500 visits by 550 seniors in 2024 for recreation activities.
The senior center's average attendance was 160 people in November, with it dipping to 140 people in December, which Tucker attributes to more holiday activities for seniors to attend.
Tucker said he's very pleased with how his transition has gone, as he was named executive director in late November.
'Things are going well,' he said. 'It's exciting right now to be here.'
Tucker received some great news last week when Daviess Fiscal Court announced a $500K match of all private donations toward the building fund.
'Their announcement that they've placed more money on the table, we will definitely use that to our advantage,' he said. '(Design/build) bids are due by Friday, and we'll start looking at those next week to see where we stand on that aspect.
'We're looking for someone that may be able to design the space we need, with the rooms we need, and give us a good estimate on it.'