Rainier Senior Center looks to expand and evolve

On West 7th St. near the boat ramp sits a large, beige building, unassuming from the outside, but a bustling heartbeat of the community inside. Long referred to as the Rainier Senior Center, the building itself was recently renamed the Rainier Riverfront Center, in part to attract a wider audience and expand the usage of the space beyond senior programming and into a community center in the off-hours

"It is for seniors but it includes everybody," said Rainier Senior Center Executive Director Jan Rich. "We have grandkids here, we have caretakers and children of seniors. I don't know if this is still an issue but, for a long time, what I was fighting was people looking at us as a rest home."

Rich works tirelessly to ensure the center has what it needs to care for Rainier's seniors and she's worried about what's to come. "I don't know what's going to happen to our funding," she said. "We charge $7 for lunches for our seniors and, right now, we get a whole $1.25 per person from the Federal Government for people over 60. I had a lady stop by the other day and say, 'I can't afford to come down for lunch." I told her that the lunches are by donation. A lot of them can't afford to pay for lunch, but that's why we make it by donation. That's what we're here for. It's hard for some people to wrap their heads around that we don't get money for the food we serve."

The center serves more than 1,200 meals a month in its dining hall, including breakfast and lunch. However, breakfast is not included in the Federal funding program. "It's separate but we try to keep our costs low enough so that the seniors can afford to come here and eat breakfast," said Rich. There is also an active home meal delivery service through Community Action Team, bringing 25-30 meals a day to Rainier residents by volunteer drivers. "[For] a lot of people we deliver food to, our drivers are the only contact they have," said Rich.

The center doesn't just provide access to the meals, but other crucial services and activities that seniors need as they get older. According to 97048 demographic info at United States Zipcode, the median age is 48 with the Rainier population over 55 comprising nearly 50% of the estimated 6,900 residents.

Research shows older adults can increasingly experience loneliness and social isolation due to a loss of a partner, mobility issues, lack of access to activities, and other factors. This, in turn, impacts overall health and vitality which contributes to increased risk of dementia, heart disease, depression, and other life-shortening symptoms. The World Health Organization (WHO) warns that social isolation can impact mortality as much as smoking, obesity, and physical inactivity. Improved nutrition and social connections have shown to increase longevity and overall emotional and physical well-being.

Rich started attending the center in 2014 to crochet and socialize. She quickly volunteered to work behind the desk and became a board member-at-large. By 2015, she had taken on the role of vice-president and, by mid-2016, took the reins when her predecessor retired. The center was able to weather COVID by transitioning from congregate meals to drive-up to-go meals, and the home delivery continued. A bequest left to the center also greatly helped during that time period, according to Rich.

Currently, the center has a few revenue streams to stay afloat, but it's not enough. Aside from the meal program, the center offers memberships for $20 a year and hosts a number of events such as a bingo once a week, an annual St. Patrick's Day fundraiser, and rents tables during the city-wide sale and holiday bazaar. The center also earns money through the on-site "Gift Shoppe," featuring consignment items and goods made by local artisans. "We got some nice grants which have helped us a lot but what the center needs are donations," Rich said. "That's what we live on. I don't know what's going to happen to our funding from the Federal Government and because of that donations are even more important than what they were."

An underutilized revenue stream is venue rentals for private events. The cost is $80 an hour to rent the building with access to a commercial kitchen that can be used for event catering or rented out to local food artisans looking for a space to make their goods. The center recently added a sun porch to expand the space and open up additional class opportunities. "We're going to start chair yoga in June with Sharon Erdman and I also want to do line dancing," said Rich. "That's all free stuff and the teachers are volunteers, so the center doesn't put out any money, but those are activities that keep our seniors moving, which is really important."

The center is also thinking about a live raffle fundraiser in September. "I think having it as a community center is a good idea, but as long as the senior center part of it comes first," Rich said. "The biggest thing is that this center lives on donations and we need people to step up, especially now more so than ever before, if we want to continue providing meals we have to be able to pay for that."

The Rainier Senior Center is located at 48 W. 7th St. To learn more, visit rainierseniors.com, call (503) 556-3889 or email RainierSeniorC@gmail.com.