By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
The Wood County Senior Center has quietly gone about its initial campaign to raise funds for a new building in Bowling Green.
That “quiet campaign” is now over – and the effort is moving into its loud stage.
“There’s going to be lots of conversations happening,” said Denise Niese, executive director of the Wood County Committee on Aging.
Niese and others working on the campaign will be talking to anyone who will listen about the need for donations for the new senior center.
“This is the anchor for all the programs and services for the county,” she said of the facility in Bowling Green. “We’re investing in the older adult population for the next 50 years.”
The “quiet campaign,” which officially ended on Friday, collected cash and pledges from 85 donors. The effort resulted in well over $500,000 being raised, and by time all the promised money is in, it could hit the goal.
“We’re going to be very, very close to the $650,000 goal,” Niese said.
Senior center officials will now be reaching out to the rest of the county – sending out mailers and speaking to every organization that will listen.
“Now we’re going to move into a different phase,” Niese said.
The goal is to raise another $600,000 – for a total of $1.2 million by the end of the year.
Niese is planning to break ground for the new facility sometime in August.
“We need to be in the building next year,” she said.
The $8 million price tag for the building construction means the Wood County Committee on Aging will have a mortgage for the first time.
“This agency has never carried a debt,” Niese said.
The price for the facility increased when it was discovered that the entire footprint of the old school administration building would have to be excavated, The original plan did not include a basement. However, since the area had to be dug out anyway, it was decided to include the storm shelter and basement storage.
The building project has already secured $1.6 million from the state, thanks to local legislators.
The contributions raised during the public campaign will all go toward construction costs – not furnishings.
“We need to get the building built first,” Niese said, adding that initially the facility will be furnished with items from the current senior center. “We’re taking everything with us.” That includes some office furniture already donated by the dental office of Phipps, Levin, Hebeka and Associates.
The new building will be more than twice the size of the current senior center, with more space for programs, an adult day care area, and a community storm shelter.
The new 35,000-square-foot senior center will be located at the site of the former school administration building between South Grove and Buttonwood streets, south of West Wooster Street.
The new facility will replace the 14,500-square-foot center currently housed in the 105-year-old building on North Main Street that formerly held the post office.
The new senior center will have between 80 and 100 parking spaces, will have one-story and two-story sections, and will be designed to fit in with the early-century residential area in which it will sit.
The first floor of the senior center will have two main entrances covered for weather protection. There will be a dining and multi-purpose room, five activity rooms of varying size, public restrooms, skylights to let in natural light, and an elevator.
The first floor will also have a lounge area that may double as a library, with a gas fireplace, and coffee.
Also on the first floor will be an adult day care space, with its own entry. The Alzheimer’s Resource Center in Toledo has offered to provide the day care services.
Currently, local residents needing adult day care services have to travel to Toledo or Findlay, Niese said.
There will be outdoor patios off the multi-purpose room and off the adult day care.
The second floor will have room for administration offices, social services, activity rooms and office space for the BGSU Optimum Aging Institute, which will be teaming up with the senior center at the site.
The basement will have a storm shelter with direct access for the community. The storm shelter could hold an estimated 360 people.
In 2018, the Wood County Committee on Aging provided the following services:
- Delivered more than 141,194 meals to 989 homebound people.
- Served 61,922 meals to 2,427 people at the seven senior center locations.
- Provided transportation for more than 200 people (2,761 transports) for medical appointments, grocery shopping, and to area senior centers.
- Responded to more than 2,500 information/referral calls.
- Provided educational enrichment programs including computer/technology, art and photography classes to 2,656 people.
- 407 community volunteers provided 19,647 hours of service.
- Completed 1,047 health screenings and 870 nursing consultations.
- Offered recreational and wellness programs.
With baby boomers hitting senior stages in their lives, the demands on senior services will continue to grow, Niese said.
“Over the next 20 years, we’re going to be seeing higher demands,” she said. In 2010, Wood County had 21,433 citizens over age 60. That number is now estimated at 27,000.
The fundraising campaign for the new senior center is being co-chaired by Dr. Tom Milbrodt and Colleen Smith – both who said local citizens have been receptive to requests for donations.
“The citizens I’ve contacted are not only supportive, but very generous,” Smith said. That says a lot for the services offered at the senior center, she added.
Milbrodt has had the same positive response from citizens.
“People understand the shortcomings of the current senior center,” he said. And they are aware of the good reputation of the agency’s programs.
