On Tuesday, 30 Aug, Mayor Dean Maxwell and council member Cynthia Richardson and myself attended the annual orientation meeting of the Anacortes Senior Center Foundation.
Since the Senior Activity Center has an important role in our city (both in terms of the volunteers who support its activities and for those who use the facility) here are the Foundation's goals for the coming year and its accomplishments in the past year (from my notes):
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Past Year's
Accomplishments
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- Installed a hearing loop in the Great Room and Kitchen, enabling those with hearing aids to tune into the public address system
- Installed a multi-media system for presentations, lectures, etc.
- Developed an endowment fund investment policy with professional oversight, which resulted in a greater return on investments
- Expanded lunch serving time, with a resultant increase in participation (about 50 every day)
- Reinstated the intergenerational lunches (with the kids from Island View Elementary School)
- Purchased 85 more chairs, resulting in volunteers having to move a lot less furniture
- Replacing carpeting (with ½ being paid for by the City of Anacortes)
- Courtyard renovated (and, as a result, now being used)
- Policies and procedures are now in electronic form
- Updated the computers in the media room and added Skype; now a drop-in computer clinic, with computers available for home-loans
- Hired a gardener (replacing the volunteer and city employee dependence)
- Installed automated sign-in of guests
- Reregistered all volunteer; instigated regular receptionist meetings; funded staff training
- March for Meals is a definite success in Anacortes; there are fewer fund-raising events, but more focus
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Goals for 2012
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- Begin the process of national accreditation
- Find volunteers who would be interested more in specific duties, rather than be part of a general pool
- Enhance the education about the hearing impaired loop system
- Enhance partnering with their neighbors
- Refinish and reseal the courtyard floor (after the drains, gutters, and siding have been repaired)
- Expand computer classes
- Encourage use of the multimedia room and develop policies and procedures for community use.
- Replace the Great Room blinds
- Continue to develop appropriate signage
- Improve landscaping and establish an outside games courtyard
- Purchase a portable performance area
- Increase public awareness of the efforts of the Foundation