A very ACTIVE place!

      Your Sequim Senior Activity Center, has been getting more and more active over the past few years, but I hadn’t stopped to quantify that level of activity until recently. The chart below shows how our average weekly use of the building has been increasing at a rapid rate. Compared to just 3 years ago, we now offer 25% more Tours, 50% more Foot Care, and a whopping 133% MORE
ACTIVITIES in our building! That is exciting growth, but we have reached the point of not being able to add much more to the schedule. Our goal: A New Center for our Seniors! We now have 10,000 square feet, very poorly laid out. People must walk through one activity to get to another, there is little sound-proofing for activities that happen in adjoining rooms, and we are having to turn away some new activities and are losing others due to our crowded schedule and building.

      I am announcing, with the board’s approval, the establishment of a Capital Campaign Fund to address the future needs of our center. Our goal is to acquire, by donation or purchase, 2 to 5 acres of land, and to build a new Center with at least 16,000 square feet that Sequim’s Seniors can be proud of. In addition to supporting our on-going operating needs, if you would like to donate to this new fund, just let us know! Here’s an idea: From now until the end of 2007, IRA account owners are allowed to donate up to $100,000 tax free to their favorite charity. This is done by having the financial institution send the donation directly from your IRA account to the charity of your choice. Thank you for your support, and we hope to be your choice, when you plan your charitable giving and estate planning! Stop by and talk to me anytime, and thanks for dreaming BIG with me!

Your Executive Director,
Michael Smith

Reprinted from "The Center News," August, 2007

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The Future of Sequim Senior Activity Center
A Summary of a Presentation Given at the Donor Recognition Dinner July 18th, 2007

     The trouble with all of these names is that none of them say what we actually do around here: Activities! I have met community members with misconceptions that we are a retirement home, a nursing home, an assisted living center, a low-income housing or a social service agency. What we have predominately done since 1971 is to provide activities for active seniors. That is why we are filing a “doing business as” statement identifying ourselves as the Sequim Senior Activity Center.

     Above is a chart illustrating our success and the situation it puts us in: The data showed a whopping 133% more hours of activities scheduled per week in 2007, versus the same period in 2004. In addition, we now offer 50% more foot care hours and 25% more trips and tours. In just three years the population of the Sequim area and our activity level have skyrocketed, taxing our capacity and our ability to schedule new activities in our building. We are definitely an ACTIVE place!

     Already though, some groups, feeling too crowded, have actually left our building, and some activities and proposed uses of our building have been turned away for lack of space.
With that in mind, your board had the foresight to create the Special Projects Committee in February of 2007. Chaired by Vice President Patricia Hatcher, this group has begun a feasibility study for a new building. Areas they are working on include:

• Analyzing the existing building’s floor plan, design, safety, energy efficiency, condition, and utilization.

• Visiting other senior centers for facility and programming ideas

• Studying trends in senior demographics, desired activities of different generational cohorts, and integration of senior activities with those of younger generations.

• Consulting with an architect who advised that renovation of our current location would be expensive and would not solve the problems we face.

• Determining that across the street parking is not a good long term solution to the parking needed due to safety concerns as traffic increases.

     The conclusions of the committee and your board are that we need to begin immediately raising funds for a new building with adequate parking space on a new site somewhere in the Sequim area. This is why we have kicked off our new Capital Campaign fund, to give our members and the community the opportunity to help this dream become a reality. Remember this fund when doing your estate planning and charitable giving.

     Sequim area residents deserve a modern, safe, inviting and attractive place to meet for activities. We are doing a marvelous job with the building and resources we have, but would like to do a better job for more people. We are exploring various private and public funding options, and will be counting on your input and support as we move into the future. In fact, we have begun talks with various people and companies who might be in a position to donate 2 to 5 acres of land, or who might sell it to us at a bargain price. If you are such a person, we would definitely like to hear from you.

Michael M. Smith,
Executive Director

Reprinted from "The Center News," September, 2007