Palmer senior center bolstered by $3.2M from state

Frontiersman

PALMER — A new senior center could be on its way as Gov. Sarah Palin has approved $3.2 million in funding for construction. That prospect has Palmer Senior Citizens Center Executive Director Richard Tubbs elated.

“It’s a project the staff has been very involved in,” Tubbs said. “We were very happy to hear that we had received the funding.”

The recent windfall isn’t the first funding the center has been budgeted for. Tubbs said the state allotted the senior center $350,000 in 2007 and $650,000 in 2008. Palmer allocated $50,000 for architectural planning for the new building.

But Architects Alaska appraised the building dreamed up by facility administrators and designers at $6.2 million. Tubbs said with the rising costs of materials since the appraisal was generated 15 months ago, the center would be in the neighborhood of $8 million now.

The new facility would be erected down the street on property already owned by the senior center, said Rachel Greenberg, office manager for the center.

Palmer Senior Citizens Center Board President Ken Anderson, who estimated he has been coming to the center for 19 years, is part of the senior leadership group of the facility. Anderson said the kitchen staff makes about 200 to 300 meals a day and the center’s vans travel about 1,000 miles a day shuttling meals and seniors around town. Frequent driving churns up thousands of dollars in expenses each month, Anderson said.

The center is seeking funding from the Rasmusson Foundation and the Denali Commission to close the gap between available funds and construction expenses. Anderson said the seniors held auctions to raise money and hosted a raffle at this weekend’s Colony Days.

As America’s Baby Boomers continue to age, Tubbs said senior care facilities like his will see more and more strain on the services they can provide. With a burgeoning senior population in the Valley, the center is gasping for breathing room now.

“Usually the place is just packed,” Anderson said of the building, which is more than 50 years old. “We just definitely need a new center.”

Greenberg said the layout of the current senior center doesn’t optimize employees’ or members’ needs. Food freezers are located downstairs from the kitchen, six people are crammed into two offices and the split-level design makes it hazardous for a wheelchair or walker to maneuver through, Greenberg said.

Palmer senior Dee Brown, who began working at the center in 1989 before becoming a member, said the movement toward a new building has been long-awaited.

“It’s taken many futile years [of lobbying], but now we’re anxious and excited,” Brown said.

Palmer senior Helen Dolenc, a founding member of the Palmer Senior Citizens Center, said the place is a vital part of the community and is glad the state funding may help the center grow.

“I don’t know how I would have gotten through these last two years,” Dolenc said, adding the devoted staff monitors members’ safety and provides education services.

“We’re expected to provide more services with the same or fewer dollars,” Tubbs said. “Our dollar, just like [everyone’s] dollar, is buying less than what it did a week ago, a month ago.”

The Palmer Senior Citizens Center is at 831 South Chugach St. near downtown Palmer and can be reached at 745-5454.

Contact Derek Casanovas at derek.casanovas@frontiersman.com or 352-2284.