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I’d like to thank Bruce Wendle, chairman of the SASi Board of Directors and Joanna Fuchs, SASi participant, for their recent letters to the Daily Bee highlighting the financial stress SASi has been experiencing. The response has been tremendous. Thank you so much to our generous community for coming to our assistance. We had over $5,000 come in in various amounts from $10 to $1,000. How wonderful

We were definitely in a tight spot after a busy, but “slower donations summer.” I would like to clarify, however, that we are not about to close our doors. The senior center has been here over 40 years, and we intend to continue another 40. Our dedicated board and staff members have been meeting and brainstorming about creative ways to have a sustainable business so that we do not have to rely on donations and grants. If you’d like to join that conversation, please call us.

I’d also like to clarify that we do receive state and federal funds for our meals program. It comes to us as reimbursement dollars per meal from the federal Older Americans Act channeled to the Idaho Commission on Aging to the Area Agency on Aging. It covers approximately 50 percent of our food costs and it is a big help to cover our food bills, which coincidentally average about $5,000/month. We also have some assistance from Area Agency on Aging for our DayBreak participants.

Thank you again. What a wonderful community we have.

ELLEN WEISSMAN

Sandpoint