Here’s a special message from the Independence County Senior Citizens Program regarding the new Senior Center building in Batesville:
We are gearing up to finalize the Capital Campaign for the Independence County Senior Citizens Program (ICSCP).
Did you notice something unusual about the picture that accompanies this article? Yes, you are right — it shows a partially finished interior of the new Senior Center building under construction on Elm Street, and it also shows the complete lack of any furnishings that will make it functional.
This short article will explain where we are in our campaign to provide the funds for the furnishings (federal and state funds are being used for the construction).
Our goal from our kickoff in October of last year has been $300,000. The committee has been laboring over the raising of these funds and, as the thermometer shows, we are at $215,000.
Independence County Judge Kevin Jeffery has been following this construction closely, and he still feels that its completion will be on track in the June/July timeframe. Hence, the fundraising committee is announcing that the campaign will end by the middle of June. This will be before a Grand Opening because the casting of the plaques and painting of the donation bricks will take a few weeks to complete.
As a reminder, anyone — corporate or an individual — who pledges at least $2,500 will have their name placed on the bronze plaque that will be hung at the entryway to the building.
Those of us who pledge at least $250 will have our names placed on a “brick” inside of the building. If desired, one can have “In honor of,” or “In memory of” in your name’s location. A pledge must be received before June 15 in order to have your name included, as noted above.
The new center will have twice the space it has now in order to enhance the programs that the executive director, Selina Wallis, can provide to our senior citizens. It will have an age-appropriate fitness/exercise room, an outdoor sidewalk around the facility that can be used as a walking and running track, multiple other rooms to hold classes offered by the University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville and Lyon College, as well as an expanded continuing education program that is so popular with the clients. Wallis anticipates that her client attendance will more than double with the new center.
A point of clarification is needed to remind us all that the overall program devoted to our senior citizens (age 60) is called the Independence County Senior Citizens Program, which had its beginning in 1974 and includes four centers within the county. They are located in Batesville, Cushman, Newark, and Oil Trough.
The center in Batesville is entitled Batesville Senior Wellness & Activity Center. Please note that the center’s name does emphasize wellness and activity which describes well the programs that are embedded within it.
If you have not pledged yet, please take the time now to do so, and then we can furnish the new center with the numerous items it needs to become fully functional.
Remember to make that pledge before June 15. The easiest way to pledge is to write a check to WRAAA (White River Area Agency on Aging), which allows us to accept pledges that are tax deductible).
Send the check to ICSCP; 1590 E. College St.; Batesville, AR 72501.
Many thanks in advance for your pledge.
