The Juniata Valley Senior Citizens' organization has been planning to expand the existing senior center to solve a number of problems and accommodate more attendees at various functions. When we constructed our building, the space allocated for our dining room ended up being less than half the size of the architectural design because of a shortage of funds. We had hoped to be able to actually start the construction process in 2005. Unfortunately, as of this writing, we find that we must borrow a significant amount of the money to start construction or forget about expanding the building.

We have applied for a number of grants to help us and thus far we have been recommended to get $58,000 in CDBG funds in 2005. In addition, we have committed to putting up $20,000 of our own funds toward the project. Our Ways & Means volunteers have already worked twice as hard as last year to live up to this commitment but we are still short of reaching our overall target.

We are hoping that you will help us to by sending a contribution so that we will not have to borrow a large amount of money to start construction in 2005. All contributions are tax deductible as we are a 501-C-3 tax exempt nonprofit organization according to the IRS.

We will genuinely appreciate your contribution regardless of the amount as every dollar will help. Please make all checks payable to "Juniata Valley Senior Citizens, Inc." and then mail the donation to us at the address above or drop it off at the senior center between the hours 8:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M., Monday through Friday.

We hope that you will agree that investing in a senior center that can motivate a senior citizen to come out of a lonely house into a setting where friends can interrelate, have fun, and improve the overall quality of life is a notion well worth supporting.

As noted in our numerous Grant Applications over the past two years, the size of the existing building is problematic. When our building was constructed in 1999, there was a realization by the officers of the Juniata Valley Senior Citizens' organization that the available funds to pay for the construction would fall short in terms of actually accomplishing the architectural design. After weighing their options at the time, they decided to drastically reduce the size of the main dining room from an "L" shaped room that was to have been approximately 1,866 square feet, to a rectangular dining room that would be approximately 900 square feet. In other words, the actual dining room to serve the senior citizens in our area would be approximately 48% of the specified size in the architectural drawings.

We constantly experience problems with the inability of the dining room to accommodate the desired number of senior citizens for certain events. We try to manage to the safety guideline specified in the Pennsylvania Department of Aging File Number APD #96-04-01, Section IV that specifies the building should be of adequate size and design to carry out all senior center activities and services. We find it increasingly difficult to manage to this guideline when the inadequate size of the building is constantly thwarting our attempts at providing new and better programs.

Since the announcement that we were recommended to be awarded $58,000 of Community Development Block Grant funds, we have been extremely busy to live up to what we perceive to be our part of the bargain. Our Ways and Means committee along with other un-paid volunteers have worked extremely hard to demonstrate that our commitment toward expanding the building is genuine. We have set up a restricted Building Expansion Account in our accounting system and are currently raising funds to reduce the funding shortfall needed to make our expansion a reality.

The average age of our core group of Ways and Means volunteers who work the fund raisers to get income into our organization is 72+ years. The amount of work that they have volunteered over the past year to raise money for our building expansion has been particularly stressful as it has been almost twice as much as the prior year. Their motivation is excellent in that they want to do everything in their power to get the money for the building expansion, but I find that I worry about the dangers of "Burnout" of this key group. Remember, as a senior citizens group, by definition, we do not have any young people in our core group of volunteers that can help do heavy lifting, ongoing repetitive tasks, etc. and I find that I also worry about the ongoing physical demands causing physical problems to this most important group. I believe that our core group can work hard for another year but if we're still short, we'll have to find other funding sources to get the building expanded.

To summarize our most serious problems as of this writing, I have grouped some of the specific problems into three major categories :

Insufficient storage area is proving to be hazardous and problematic. Storage space is desperately needed for chairs, tables, our new TV set, and the fund raising supplies we need to get to make bread, make candy, make Ham Pot Pie noodles, have dinners, etc.

Whenever we get the appropriate supplies for a fund raising event, there is a challenge to find where to temporarily store things and then how to retrieve things to actually do the fund raiser. A good bit of the time, we store bulky things in our individual homes until the fund raising event. Getting more space in the dining room will enable the current room with the bookcases and TV to relocate. This will leave the current TV room for storage as originally planned and noted on the architectural drawings.

There is a constant movement of boxes, jars, and other items between the storage space in the main building and our outside shed. Note that there was barely enough space to walk in this room before our "Hartslog Day" fund raiser because of the storage requirements of the soda pop, apple dumplings, candy, transport boxes, tray racks, etc.

This photo depicts the space that was intended for Filing and the main administrative office of the Juniata Valley Senior Citizens, Inc. organization. The three foot aisle space between the chairs and the office desk gets filled with supplies each time there is a fund raiser. This picture, taken immediately after the Hartslog Day cleanup crew finished, shows the space in a "It doesn't get any better than this...." frame of reference.

This room on the 1999 architectural drawings was to have been a storage area for tables, chairs, etc. The new dining room space that will be located behind the hanging quilt wall in the photo, will accommodate the new TV, Piano, Easy Chairs, and bookcases. Then this room will serve as a storage area with the doors closed most of the time as originally intended.

Problem Category #2: Senior Citizen Programs that cannot be done well, or done at all, because of space constraints:

The insufficient space between the people seated at the tables during our February 2003 ABATE Swiss Steak dinner pose problems for our servers and attendees.

C. We would love to have dances at the center but dances are impossible to have due to inadequate space for a dance floor area.

D. We would love to have Plays / Skits at the center but these are are impossible to have due to inadequate space for a stage area.

E. Free dinners have attendee restrictions due to inadequate space for dining room.

F. KARAOKE programs are problematic due to inadequate space for setting up computer equipment and microphones.

G. AARP 55 Alive Defensive Driving course has attendee restrictions due to inadequate space.

H. Musical Entertainment Programs are problematic due to inadequate space to set up amplifiers, microphones and other equipment.

Entertainment at the 2003 Spaghetti Dinner has no adequate space for equipment or singers. Note that three other members of Alan Smith.s musical group are invisible to the audience. They are in the back room behind Commissioner Roy Thomas due to space constraints.

Problem Category #3: Fund Raising Constraints that make the fund raising process harder, and less profitable than it has to be:

Making Bread, Apple Dumplings, Cinnamon Rolls, Pies, etc. space to make and sell.

We are planning to offer BINGO as another fund raiser but the existing size of the building poses the same problem as to limiting the number of people we could possibly admit. The size of the building effectively dictates the potential revenue we could take in.

Another problem worth noting is the negative impact of the recent elimination of the $100 per month that the Area Agency on Aging paid us as rent for the building to provide the daily congregate meal program. This loss of revenue adds another $1,200 per year shortfall to our budget and in effect, adds more workload to our Ways and Means group to make up for the loss. Since our organization owns the building, we take serious the responsibilities of making sure that everything is maintained appropriately.

It is the desire of the Juniata Valley Senior Citizens to restore the 21 X 46 feet to the senior center's dining room and social area that had to be deleted as part of the original building construction process.

The Juniata Valley Senior Citizens operate the existing senior center with the support of the Area Agency on Aging. The new addition will add 966 square feet to the existing building. The existing building was constructed with the necessary heating and cooling capacity to be capable of heating and cooling the new, additional space. In addition, there were a number of things set in place in the existing building to enable a smooth transition to the expansion.

The proposed expansion space will allow us to more than double the existing dining and social area of the senior center. We will then be able to accommodate twice the number of people at our special functions and the expanded space will solve a number of safety and storage area problems. Every problem area noted in section #1 of this document will be positively impacted by the increased space.

As stated in our corporate bylaws, we exist to develop and provide Recreational, Educational, Nutritional, and Health related programs for the senior citizens within the Juniata Valley area of Huntingdon County. We feel that anything that can enhance the quality of life for our senior citizens is a project that is well worth doing. We currently have 367 active dues-paying members in our organization. We are planning a direct mail solicitation campaign to get our membership total over 400 active members. Please note that membership in our organization is never a prerequisite to a senior citizen coming to our senior center and participating in any of our programs. In other words, any senior citizen is welcome to our senior center.

We have found that anything that can get a senior citizen who is probably living alone, out of their house and into our senior center is a fantastic idea. If they have something to look forward to by coming to our senior center, they feel better about themselves. This in turn makes the person next to them feel better and like any chain reaction we end up with a room full of people having fun.

When you contrast this situation with the alternative of a lonely senior citizen sitting home alone, the social change / improvement is both obvious and extremely significant. If we can improve the amount of space in our senior center, we feel that we can improve on the number of, and the content of, the programs that we can offer.

We are fortunate as the original building plan formulated in the late 1990s has already covered a number of planning areas. In early October of 2003, I called James Kasun, the original architect, and asked if I could buy about an hour of his time to meet face to face in his Hollidaysburg office to update our thinking on the project since our last conversation. We met on October 28, 2003, to discuss the cost estimates and implementation planning phases as currently envisioned. We pored over the architectural drawings that Jim had in his office that show the details of the expanded main dining room and agreed on some minor changes that we would deal with in the future. Jim gave me some copies to take with me for my future reference as the historical copies located at the senior center are incomplete.

As of this writing, we feel that the following broad planning phases are appropriate if we are to move forward in 2005:

1. Mid 2004 - Retain the architect to insure building compliance and finalize the architectural drawings.

2. Early 2005 - New construction of the 21' X 46' (966 sq feet) addition to the building

3. Mid 2005 - Demolition of the existing building section with windows and door relocation. Hopefully this can be done over a holiday weekend.

Of course we will have to intensely focus on creating the specific objectives and target dates of the broad plan to insure that there will be an orderly transition from the existing space to the new space. We will have to plan carefully to not disrupt the ongoing congregate noon meal program.

During our meeting, we also discussed a number of other things like inflation, building code changes, materials cost, prevailing wages, and a more precise definition of the scope of the project. Jim concluded that given a construction start date in 2005, a more appropriate cost estimate of the project would be approximately $130,000.00.

During some of our Juniata Valley Senior Citizens, Inc. Board Meetings, we have explored various financing options and have formally set up a restricted account in our accounting system that is intended solely for .Building Expansion.. The monies earmarked for this restricted account cannot and will not be used for any other purpose. As of this writing we have over $14,000.00 in our building fund and we are planning new fund raising events throughout the remainder of 2004 and all of 2005 to grow the fund to a $20,000 level by the end of January in 2005.

Given a total project estimate of $130,000, a recommended 2005 CDBG of $58,000, and our contribution of $20,000, there is currently a shortfall of $52,000. We are aggressively focusing on other sources of funding to get this down to an amount that we would be comfortable borrowing from a financial institution.

We have met a number of times internally to discuss our cash-flow situation along with various financing options and currently feel that we do not want to saddle future officers of the Juniata Valley Senior Citizens. organization with a large bank debt. We do feel that we could take on some debt and we are not averse to borrowing money if we have to. We are exploring a number of low interest loan programs. This request for donations will in effect serve as a sort of "Green Light" trigger and dictate whether or not we'll be able to start construction in the 2005 time frame.

I have spent numerous hours researching additional Grant programs and have written Governor Rendell, Senator Jubelirer and Representative Sather for any financial help they can provide but as of this writing, I do not have any hope left for these avenues.

Please feel to call me at (814) 669-4919 Home or (814) 669-4987 Senior Center if you have any questions.