All in the family

For many seniors, the Glenrock Senior Center is a home away from home. A calm, welcoming place to gather with friends and extended family. For others, it’s a lifeline that helps keep many older adults connected to a social center as well as providing a host of valuable services that enables them to remain independent, whether that means transportation service, home delivered meals or in-home health checks from certified medical staff.

Along with a dining hall and thrift store, the Glenrock Senior Center also boasts an entertainment room, which director Kathy Matson describes as “the hidden secret.” The entertainment room isn’t just for relaxing; it has a multipurpose role as a place to hold meetings, to entertain guests and a history as the place where bingo used to be played.

At the center of it all is a sense of pride in all the staff and the volunteers, who are part of the heart and soul of the center. Without the volunteers, things just would not operate as smoothly, according to Matson. To her, they are just not employees, they’re family.

Behind the scenes is a team of cooks, office personnel, drivers, volunteers and health care providers work to make sure that the visitors to facility are well taken care of and those who do not come are as equally taken care of.

For a small town, this center has big numbers.

“The dining average in the facility is 42 people per day, and home deliveries are around 28-40 depending on the menuitem,” said staff member Nanice Fink, adding that year to date, the center has done 6,635 in-house meals and 4,528 home delivery meals not counting the waivers and non-eligible numbers, as well.

Big hearts, big numbers.

Leading the family is Kathy Matson, who has been there for a year, followed by her office staff, Nancie Fink, who has been on staff for 10 years. Officer worker Angela Evans has worked for the center for 5 years and Doris Ottersbach who has been with “the family” for 6 years. Doris loves to “talk and have fun with the seniors and always loves to volunteer.”

One of the medical members on hand is Evans, who has been there for 10 years. With a warm personality, Evans provides care from blood pressure to aiding inhome seniors who cannot easily make the trip to the center.

One of the other members of the medical team is Amanda Hodges, who has been with the center for 8 months. She joined the center recently because she “wanted something that wasn’t a nursing home and could help my community and loves it here.”

In the kitchen feeding the hungry guests, both in-house and at home, are the hard working cooks. Head cook Robin Seidel leads the team as a two-year employee, alongside Kacie Faunts, who has been there for a year. Former volunteer, turned employee Travis Bowdish has been with the center for four years.

For those who need to get out of the house but need a ride, the Glenrock Senior Center provides public transportation.

“The head driver is one of the oldest in the state,” Fink said, “but don’t let the young age 80 years fool you.”

Patsy Heiser has been at the center the longest of the current employees at 15 years. She is accompanied by other volunteers from the community, who gladly volunteer their time to help aid the citizens get around to where they need to go.

According to Matson, the volunteers help make the center operate smoothly and are a major boost. Thirty-five volunteers combined provided 6,000 volunteer hours during the past year. With a number like that, according to Matson, it shows how much this community cherishes their elders and how big of a heart they have and the selfless personality they have to help.

Volunteers also staff the thrift store, and proceeds help fund the center’s food delivery efforts. Matson said these volunteers are part of the life blood of the family that care for the elderly.