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Senior center gets facelift grant |
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Tuesday, 12 August 2008 |
The Benton Senior Activity Center soon will receive a facelift, thanks to a $240,000 community development block grant.
In a recent ceremony at the state Capitol, center representatives and city officials received the grant, which is being administered through the Central Arkansas Planning and Development Agency.
The grant will be used to make improvements to the Benton facility at 210 Jefferson St.
Sherry Parsons, director of the center, said she can hardly wait to get started on the improvements scheduled for the facility.
“We’re very excited about this,” Parsons said. “It will really be nice.”
Central Arkansas Develop-ment Council oversees the operation of the center.
“We’ll be getting all new doors, new flooring, new windows and new ceilings, and we’ll be painting throughout the center,” Parsons said.
The overall decor will be different, she noted. “We’ll no longer have a neutral, institutional look,” she said.
“We’re going to have bright, happy color, and all of the improvements, like the windows and doors, will make the center more energy-efficient,” she added.
Lee Ann Pool, grant administrator of the Central Arkansas Planning and Development Agency, and Marsha Guffey, community development director for the city, worked on the grant application, Parsons noted.
One of the major changes to the facility will involve the relocation and expansion of the center’s gift shop, she said.
“This can be especially beneficial to the center because it will enable shoppers to enjoy it more and it’s one of our biggest fundraisers,” she said.
Now located in a small area at the end of a hallway — which is used for the overflow items — the shop will be moved across the center to what is now an adjoining storage area, Parsons explained.
“This will free up more space in the center itself and give us an opportunity to display the items we have in the shop,” she said.
Before any of the improvements begin at the facility, an asbestos check had to be made, Parsons noted.
She had not expected the presence of asbestos in the facility, which was built in 1975. “If the building were older, I think it might be more likely,” she said, “but we’ll find out.”
However, asbestos was found in the center’s flooring and it will have to be abated before new flooring can be added, Jim Towe, community services supervisor for the city of Benton, said.
“The city will do the abatement,” Towe said. “We’ve been talking to the administrators of grant and don’t want to take up floor and have to wait for money to come through. When they get ready to do the renovations, it can be done quickly. It’s a four-day process, Friday-Monday, so that you have a minimum down time having to close the facility.
“We can’t start this until we get the OK from Central Arkansas Planning and Development Agency,” he said.
Towe said he recently “hand-carried (CAPDA) a copy of the survey showing that there is asbestos in the floor in the building. We’re just waiting for them to say ‘OK, you can start.’”
“We’re responsible only for the abatement,” he said. “They (Central Arkansas Planning and Development Agency) are handling the RFQs for the architect and the RFPs.
“It will probably be October at the earliest before we get started,” he said.
Towe said the entire project will take six-eight weeks. “The asbestos abatement will cost around $18,000,” he said.
The center’s current facility opened in 1975. Initially, the center was located in the old Christian Church structure on East Street.
“It’s important for us to have nice facilities for seniors,” Parsons said. “People are living longer, and they’re more active.
“This facility is so important to the people who come here,” she said. “Some just come to visit and watch others. Some like to socialize. They enjoy the music and the bands that perform here, and others enjoy the quilting, bingo and other games.
“It’s a wonderful place to cure loneliness,” Parsons said. “When they’re here, they get their minds off their problems.”
Health education classes are taught at the center.
Parsons has taught a 20-week course called “Active Living Every Day,” which teaches people to move from a sedentary lifestyle to an active one.”
While she’s excited about the upcoming improvements, Parsons dreams of even bigger things for the center.
She hopes someday to build an adjacent health center on the site where the old water plant facility was located. That structure recently was demolished.
“I’d like to have a walking track, an aquatic pool and all of the facilities that I think the seniors would use,” she said.
For now, though, Parsons is ready for the upcoming improvements.
“We’re so lucky to have so many people who enjoy the center, and we have a wonderful staff and dedicated volunteers,” she said.
“We have wonderful volunteers who do everything from singing with the band, preparing foods, delivering meals, working in the gift shop, working with crafts, teaching classes and serving as receptionists and in clerical jobs,” Parsons said. |
 |  |  |  |  | Just being with family and eating good food is the best part!!- Liz McGee Quantz (Haskell, AR)
The Mabelvale United Methodist Church in Mabelvale, AR will
be hosting a fall carnival on Sunday evening October 26th from 5 to 7pm in the
Fellowship Hall. Kids will love it, parents will too! - Roger Poole (Bryant, AR)
I make an awesome Pina Colda Cake. You buy a boxed yellow
cake mix and mix it and bake it per the instructions on the box. After you bake the
cake allow it to cool for about 15 minutes. Use the end of a wooden spoon to poke
medium size holes all in the cake. Take a can of Eagle Brand Milk and Cream of
Coconut and alternate pouring them into the holes. Place the cake in the fridge for
about one hour, remove and put Cool Whip on top, as much or as little as you like.
The cake is better if you let it sit all night in the fridge before eatting. It is
wonderful!!! - Kelly Chase (Alexander, AK)
My favorite memories of Thanksgiving were when we lived in
Tulsa, Ok. There were always folks that didn't have a place to go for the holiday-
so they wound up at our house along with most of my husband's family from Benton.
The house was packed. The Thanksgiving meal was wonderful. But the celebration
didn't end there. At night, all weekend, there were pallets spread throughout the
house and the good eats seemed to never end. And on Friday morning (after
Thanksgiving) all the females were up before dawn and Christmas shopping by 8:00
a.m. Those are memories that I will cherish forever. - Billie Loe (Texas)
I always get to make the turkey for our Thanksgiving. So
you can add more butter or flour for consistency. Wash your turkey, pat dry, take
another stick of butter and rub all over turkey. Then take with your hands and smear
the batter a little thick, all over the turkey. Once all of the turkey has the
batter on it, I will melt the another bar of butter and put it in the bottom of the
pan of my turkey. It will make a wonderful gravy to use on your turkey when done.
So, then get enough aluminum foil to make a "tent" over your turkey. Put in oven and
bake @ 375 all night. It will be so moist, the crispies are great and the gravy
makes it better. Now the flip side to this is, it will be so tender it will fall apart.
So, I do not serve as a whole turkey. I go ahead and slice up, pour some grave
over some of the sliced up turkey for those who like it and then slice up some
turkey without gravy. You will have many compliments on this. Happy Thanksgiving
and Enjoy! - Liz Johnson (Benton) We prepare a traditional Thanksgiving dinner that morning.
Then we pack it all up and travel to deer camp in South Arkansas. We serve dinner to
all those who don't have family with which to share. We'll spend the afternoon
playin' dominos, pitchin' horseshoes and just visitin'. It's a wonderful time. - Pat Stuckey (Bismarck) We invite all the family in and cook the traditional feast.
Everyone gets silly when they get full. That is entertaining. - Jim Perry (Benton) Frozen pizza - Greg Marsh (Medicine Hat) The whole family gets together and we have dinner and noon
visit for a while then go home to take naps and get ready for black friday sales! - Terrie Schulz (Benton)
My childhood memories are of the sumptuous dinners my
grandfather, Byron Yarbrough, Sr. would prepare. Family members came from all over
Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas to our home of South East Street. It was a wondeful
time I really didn't learn to appreciate until he and my grandmother passed away.
Later, my cousin Eleen Murray brought the tradition back and family members gathered
at their home near Lake Norrell. Today, it's the memories of
Thanksgivings past that I treasure. It was because of these gatherings that I came
to realize the importance of family. - David Hughes (Herndon, VA)
My favorite time of remembering Thanksgiving is when all of
my family would get together and enjoy the most wonderful feast I have ever tasted.
My mom would make at least 2 to 3 different stuffings, actually her and my sister
Tammy Parker(Schultz) would make everything. I am not quite the chef my mom and
sister are. I live now and have lived for most of my life away from home in
different states so I have tasted many other dishes. None can compare to my
mom's(Pat Brumley). But most of all it is the family being altogether and just
laughing and having fun. My husband experienced this tradition for the first time in
1999 and still to this day can not stop talking about it. His traditions were not
the same. He couldn't believe the amount of food, fun, and family we had for the
holidays. I didn't understand it because I am used to it always being that way. I am
very lucky to have the family I have. My ex-step dad (David Hughes) still treats me
and my sister like his own so I have extended family to share the holidays with too. Even if it
is just a phone call, prayer, or written. I sure so miss Benton. I was raised
there and even though I am in Hoosier state since 2001 I let everybody know I am
proud to be a Razorback. I will never be anything else. God bless everyone in
Benton and someday I hope to see you soon. - Debbie Brooks (Schultz) (Columbus, IN) |
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