Worland Senior Center

This last year has gone so fast and 2009 is coming to an end.  Thought we’d take the time to remember some of the high lights from last year.

January and February were full of new things, which is appropriate for the first of  a new year.   We received our new flag pole in memory of Faye Alexander.  This was accomplished by donations. Irene furnished money and the flag from her husband’s casket.  Jadeco donated the electrical for the light to shine on it for 24 hours a day.  Senator Gerry Geis gave a state flag flown at the state capital with a certificate to prove it.  Watching the flag fly on the days with a breeze can be quite relaxing.

New activities were in abundance.  The new pool tables arrived and we had a lot of interested players.  We used donation money and purchased a Wii.  This attracted a lot of interest, especially the darts and bowling.  A group of crafters started meeting weekly to do crafts for the military.

March & April gave us reason to applaud all our wonderful and much appreciated volunteers.  In one fiscal year we logged 4,675 donated hours.  At that time minimum wage was $6.55 an hour, making these hours worth at least $30,621.25. Knights of Note started playing on Birthday Lunch days.

May & June ushered us into the computer internet age with a web page.  Alan Ferguson donated his wisdom.  We keep this up with the new newsletters.  This column, menus and activities are to be found there.

July & August brought us our one year anniversary; August 18, 2008 started our first year of serving seniors in our new building.  State grants were cut less than predicated, which was a blessing.  We started receiving money from the 1% Sales Tax.

September & October grant season finally came to an end;  it lasted from April through August.  We hosted Flu Shots and reached a record high.

November & December 204 cinnamon twist were made for a fundraiser co-hosted by Wind River Thrivent for Lutherans.  A defibrillator will be purchased.  Breakfast with Santa was co-hosted with Kiwanis.

2010 We will have a new computer system to learn in January, both the staff and the seniors.  We will have My Senior Center installed on January 14, 2010.  This will have a swipe card and a touch screen for seniors to enter the things they will be participating in during the day.  For example, excercise, lunch, and cards can all be entered at one time.  There will also be an electronic signature pad for the seniors to sign, so the Aging department will know there is no fraud being committed.  The staff will be able to pull reports and it will save many hours of number pushing by hand.