Future Senior Center Site Toured

Officials with White River Area Agency on Aging met briefly with its advisory council in Mountain View on Thursday at the site of the proposed new Mountain View Senior Center at 311 Patricia Avenue.

Ted Hall, CEO of WRAAA, said the agency recently purchased the building and plans to substantially remodel the facility that was formerly a church.

WRAAA Deputy Director Shanna Maguffee said the agency anticipates an April or May 2025 move-in date.

The senior center is relocating from rented facilities on School Avenue that at $30,000 rent per year was prohibitively expensive for the program that feeds about 211 diners at the facility or at their homes daily on a food budget of about $100,000 a year.

Hall said he believes the senior center at its new location will open without debt service. State and federal grants are expected to cover the cost of the building ($100,000) and a similar sum for mandated improvements to the facility.

Finis Brewer and Linda King on behalf the Senior Center Advisory Council presented a mock-up of a check in the amount of $10,400 to Sandra Deweese, Mountain View Senior Center director, representing proceeds from an Aug. 25 fund raiser.

Maguffee said the new center and improvements and support from the advisory council happen almost simultaneously with the release of new statistics from the United States Department of Agriculture.

The statistics released Sept. 5 show Arkansas last among the states in terms of food insecurity among all age groups and Stone and Searcy counties near the bottom of the list of most food insecure counties in the state.

King, also director of the Stone County Community Food Ministry, presented the fund-raiser $5,000 from the Stone County Community Resource Council.

Machelle Mitchell, Senior Services coordinator of the WRAAA led the group on a tour of the building showing how the feeding program will rendezvous around a food service area that was formerly an auditorium.

A public address system with microphones and a mixing board was left behind by the church that vacated the building. A stage at the front of the auditorium (dining area) appears ready for lunchtime performances by the Rag Dolls and other groups who frequently entertain area seniors.

A shelter outside the building will house a walk-in cooler/freezer. Mitchell showed space she believes is ample for dry storage and cooking with walk-up window service for the dining area.
Macguffee says there will likely be a constant need for fund-raising to support the increasing need for the feeding program that includes dining on location and meals-on-wheels.

Brewer said fund-raising ideas may be directed to him at (870) 291-2282. Brewer noted that both the city of Mountain View and Stone County governments support the senior center to the tune of $10,000 a year. He said the senior center staff and volunteer musicians and auctioneers deserves thanks for supporting the August fund-raiser.