CLE ELUM--Serve Washington has selected the Upper Kittitas County Senior Center's interim board of directors as recipients of the 2024 Washington State Volunteer Service Awards for the South Central region of Washington.
They received a group volunteer award.
The Upper Kittitas County Senior Center's Board of Directors oversees management of the Upper Kittitas County Senior Center, located in Cle Elum. The senior center was created in 1991 as a community gathering place for seniors and the greater community. Throughout the year, it hosts many activities ranging from serving low-cost senior meals on weekdays, town hall meetings, fall immunization clinics, line dancing classes, exercise classes, gaming events and more. It houses a small community library. It also serves an emergency shelter for displaced families during disasters.
In 2023, a group of nine individuals stepped in to fill interim board of directors roles after the departure of the its previous executive director, according to Lori Nevin, current executive director of the senior center.
These individuals collectively volunteered more than 2,700 hours to keep the senior center operating. Together, they helped the senior center serve more than 3,387 low-cost meals, provided library materials for more than 200 patrons, held fitness programs for more than 700 community participants and continued the center's numerous social services and community programs. In August of 2023, the interim board of directors were voted in as full board members.
"The nine people stepped in to do what they needed to do to keep the doors open," Nevin said. "Their care they have for this community and facility is so important and they saw what this facility could be and they had the foresight to say 'this could be something grater than it was,' and they were going to make it happen."
Upper Kittitas County Senior Center: http://centennial-center.org/
