Golden memories: Senior center turns 50

SANDPOINT — With its large expansive room, with a pool table in one corner, and clusters of tables in another, you can almost feel the memories.

Thursday, Sandpoint Area Seniors, Inc. staff welcomed community residents, area officials, and volunteers to the Sandpoint Senior Center to celebrate the organization's golden anniversary.

As some of the 50 or so people in attendance gathered in groups, catching up, others wandered from display to display revisiting some of those memories.

The senior center has been a welcoming spot for more than 50 years — with a few of those memories showcased on a half-dozen or so displays. 

On one were photos of the center being remodeled; on another a photo of two of the center's volunteers about to head out to deliver one of its first meals taken to homebound seniors. On another was a photo of 18 or so bridge players and a tribute to the Sandpoint Injectors Car Club, which hosts an annual fundraising barbecue every summer. 

On yet another, designed to look like a winding highway driving from the center's 1974 beginnings: the formation of the group by Alamae Cox, a note of the center's first home on Pine Street, and its collaboration with local restaurants to feed homebound seniors. Other stops on the journey include the center's move to Forest Avenue, a notation of it delivering almost 7,500 meals to seniors and serving a total of 8,200 meals, and an open house when the center moved to its current home at 820 Main St.

By 2003, the center's meal delivery program had grown to delivering 24,000 meals and serving another 10,000. Another "stop" on the board celebrates the opening of the DayBreak Center, which provides quality daytime care for individuals with memory impairment, such as Alzheimer’s disease. Additional "stops" note a $200,000 renovation of the building, made possible with community support, fundraisers, and grants.

Additional posters celebrate the center's role as a gathering spot, as well as honoring the many volunteers who make the center possible; charts showing both where funds come from — and how they are spent; and summarizations of SASi's strategic plans for the next four years.

The center's founding mother is Alamae Cox, who moved to Sandpoint with her husband, Lloyd, in the 1970s, from El Cajon, Calif., where they had loved being a part of an active and vibrant senior center. They missed the friendships and fun they had enjoyed and Alamae decided to do something about it and soon the Bonner County Senior Citizens Council was open to welcome the community's seniors.

The center, incorporated on Jan. 1, 1974, would later be rechristened Sandpoint Area Seniors on Jan. 7, 1988.

When SASi started, meals for seniors were prepared at local restaurants and served on site. Then, like today, the center was affiliated with the Area Agency on Aging with each person paying a donation. Then, like today, the center was a community hub, providing a place to gather for meals, dancing, card games, and pool, listen to a band, and have fun.

SASi officials said that in the mid-1980s, the center opened its own commercial kitchen where, to this day, the center prepares meals for both homebound seniors and folks looking for a good meal on site.

In any given month, the center serves untold numbers of meals at its Main Street location and delivers more than 2,000 meals to seniors throughout Bonner County.

Visitors to the center range in age from 50 to 98, with one of SASi’s main programs being the DayBreak Center, which in addition to helping those with memory impairment, such as Alzheimer’s disease, also provides respite for the families and caregivers of the individuals.

Located at 820 Main St., Sandpoint Area Seniors has been serving the Sandpoint area for just over 50 years, working to provide all senior citizens over the age of 50 years with nutritional meals as well as serve as a gathering place and informational site for social, recreational, and wellness programs.

In addition to the food services, the senior center hosts bingo, pinochle, and other card games. The center also gives seniors access to a library and computer lab.

Thursday, the center and its many services were celebrated at a golden anniversary celebration.

Kootenai Mayor Nancy Lewis was among about 50 people who helped the center celebrate 50 years of connections on Thursday. While she doesn't come every day, Lewis said she enjoys coming for the occasional lunch and is grateful the community has such a valuable resource available to its seniors.

"A lot of seniors that don't have anywhere to go or don't have a family, I think its great to have a place to go," she said. "They have activities and it gives them something to do."

Each person who works or volunteers at the center is kind and caring, making it a fun place to go and connect, Lewis said.

Others said the center is a home away from home for many of their friends, some who attend on a regular basis, and others will drop by occasionally. 

"It gave [a friend] a sense of community, an absolute sense of community," a man said of a woman who was close to him and his wife before she passed. "And she needed that desperately."

Like others, Clarence and Linda Van Dellen make occasional visits to the center, often for a special program or an occasional meal. The couple, who wanted to help the center celebrate its golden anniversary, said they had come to celebrate after receiving an invitation in the mail.

"I think as people get older, and we certainly have an aging population, I think they tend to be more housebound and all without getting out," Clarence Van Dellen said. "Something like this is a nice plus."

Young or senior, all are welcome at SASi, board president Nikki Klein told those gathered to help the center celebrate 50 years of memories, camaraderie, and friendship. She welcomed old friends and encouraged everyone to invite others to join the fun at the center.

"We'd love to show them what we do here and much we benefit people like you," she added.

Klein thanked the crowd for coming to help the center celebrate its golden anniversary, and for all of the support over the past 50 years.

"Thank you for being here as we kick off our next 50 years," Klein told those gathered. "We're hoping to get bigger and better and serve more and more people. The community needs us."

    Ron Bricker and his wife examine the many choices at a buffet lunch hosted by Sandpoint Area Seniors, Inc. to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Sandpoint Senior Center.
  

    Kootenai Mayor Nancy Lewis and Dover Mayor George Eskridge laugh as they wait for Loris Michael, vice president of Sandpoint Area Seniors, Inc. board, to take their photo.