Senior citizens have gathered Monday through Friday for a meal at the Conway Senior Center for 25 years.
That continued last week as seniors enjoyed music and a meal last Wednesday at the center.
Annie Barker, the administrator and head cook at the Conway Senior Center, said they typically serve anywhere from 30 to 60 people each day.
Barker started as the assistant cook at Hughes Senior Center.
“The position came open up here for a head cook. I've been here ever since, for about 16 years,” she said. Asked if she loved the job, she said yes.
“You bet, I guess that’s what God has called me to do, and so we just love the seniors and do our best to serve them and love on them as much as we can and make them feel at home like a family here,” she said. “They just come in and have a good time. I don't know of any other place that you can come into, and feel like you're just part of a family. That's what we're about.”
The staff has a daily routine to get the meals ready.
“I come in and I start at 8 o'clock in the morning and I start cooking and we start serving our homebound clients at 11 o'clock. So we send out hot meals to our homebound every day. And then we also start serving lunch at 11:30, so we serve from 11:30 to 12:30,” Barker said.
“Then after that, we have cleanup. But we have several crafts that go on here once a week. We've got entertainment once a month. We've got bingo twice a week. We do at least 25 fundraisers a year,” she said.
The center is locally supported, she said.
“Our budget this year is $101,000, and so we're just fundraising too so we can make that budget happen. We are independent, we don't get any state or federal dollars. We just rely on our community to help support us,” Barker said.
The Conway Senior Center is open Monday through Friday.
We definitely have a very good community, and not just here in Conway, but we've got a lot of folks that come from Lebanon to support us,” she said. “Our main thing is our nutrition program serving the seniors at a low cost. It's a suggested contribution of $5, and here at our senior center. It's an all you can eat buffet.”
The building that houses the Senior Center dates to the 1920s.
“We have the original flooring out there in the main lobby,” she said.
Barker said she is thankful for the senior center.
“There are so many older people that live alone, and they need us so badly,” she said.
Vera Rifenburg was one of the founders of the senior center. She recalls when the old Ford dealership building was remodeled and the center opened in 2000. The sign in front of the building recalls its history.
She said it remains a place where the area’s senior citizens can get a good meal.
“They can come here and have a good meal every day and find good companionship in here,” she said.
Jerry Clark, the Conway Senior Center board president, said they provide a meal for $5.
“The volunteers really step up and do a lot of work,” he said. “The meals are great, but the socializing keeps people mentally healthy. They can socialize, it's great. Some of these people we take homebound meals to, we’ll be the only people they'll talk to. Our passion is for the community and the elderly.”
Once a month the center features entertainment. Last Wednesday, they featured Jim Buttrey and band.
Clark said they give seniors a place to go where they can enjoy themselves.
“We can give them a good meal and have a place to socialize and cool off and sometimes tell us their problems,” he said.
He said the community came together 25 years ago to fix up the old garage building for the senior center.
He thanked the community for continuing to make the center possible.
“All I want to say is just thank you. We thank the community for their support,” he said.
