About 50 people come to lunch daily at the Senior Activity Center at 750 Heritage Court. A hot meal is served at noon Monday through Friday.
The center serves people who are 60 and older.
"We would really like to see more 60-year-olds here," said Debi Holroyd, program assistant for the center. "(They) can get a meal for a $3 donation."
Richard Grubb, driver for the senior center, said the center is packed on the day of the month that taco salads are served.
"It's huge," Grubb said.
Kathy Patterson, director of the center, explained that the menu changes monthly, but taco salad is one item that is served each month.
She said staff have a good idea of what people like based on what is left on trays when they come back to the food window.
Donuts and coffee are served in the mornings.
Area businesses such as Harps and McKee Foods donate food to the center. On May 14, bakery items were given away by drawing before lunch. Snacks were handed out after the meal.
"Everybody gets a box of Little Debbies," Patterson said.
A $320,000 expansion of the center recently took place, nearly doubled its size. Also, a canopy was installed over the driveway at the entrance. The center is 8,700 square feet. It was previously 4,960 square feet. The expansion was paid for with a combination of federal and state money and private donations.
The south room will be used for a game room with game tables and billiard tables. The northwest room will have exercise equipment. The northeast room will expand the dining area.
Patterson said the expansion project was pretty close to being on budget.
In 1988, Patterson started working at the center as a van driver. In January 1998, she became director when the existing director was transferred to another center. She's been director for 16 years.
After lunch, kitchen staff take the leftovers and make frozen dinners. The dinners are delivered by volunteers to people who receive meals at home.
Volunteers take meals to Gentry and Siloam Springs residents. The center has four routes, and between 14 and 17 people receive meals on each route.
Kitchen staff also cooks meals for the Gentry Senior Center. Its staff picks those meals up at 11 a.m.
Patterson said the largest group of people are at the center between 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. for lunch.
Staff includes three women in the kitchen, a van driver, an assistant, a janitor and the director. The center has three substitutes who work when needed.
Edwin Snider has been coming to the center for 10 years.
"I volunteer if they need something," Snider said. Recently, he's helped make the daily money deposit. He's also helped wash tables.
"I love it," he said. "They've got good food here. You don't have to cook at home."
He said he comes there to eat with his brother.
Bernice Woodruff has been going to the center for six years, and like Snider, she does volunteer work. Woodruff said she's helped count money, filled the ice tray, made coffee and answered the phone.
It's a "fun place to be," she said. Woodruff was a volunteer at the hospital and a past president of the auxiliary. Other auxiliary members encouraged her to come to the center.
"It's been very worthwhile, kind of like a second family," she said.
She said she's participated in the Wii bowling tournament that takes place between area senior centers. She's also won a billiards competition by beating the person who taught her to play.
The center organizes events outside the center such as eating out at an area restaurant once a month or going out for breakfast and then shopping in Fayetteville.
Some events and happenings at the center include water color painting, bingo, a program where people play music with various drums, and gospel and country and Western bands.
People at the center also play dominoes, cards, exercise and watch TV. Van rides are also available.
The senior center is a nonprofit organization that's operated by the Office of Human Concern and Area Agency on Aging of Northwest Arkansas.
It's open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
More information is available by calling the center at 524-5735.
General News on 06/25/2014