Statements
Mission
The mission of the Maury County Senior Center is to provide opportunities for senior citizens to meet as a group for activities and services designed to support their independence and encourage their involvement in and with the community, and to serve as a focal point for the delivery of basic services to senior residents in the Maury County area.
Background
In 1961-62 a senior citizen movement was started in Columbia when Reverend James Taylor came to the Riverside Methodist Church as minister. In 1974 the city of Columbia established their Human Resource Agency and took advantage of state and federal Funds. Mr. Charles Lea, Director of Aging at the South Central Development District, assisted Geneva Patrick, Director of the City of Columbia Human Services, organize and charter the Friendly Senior Citizens Club. In 1974, Anna Bostelman was appointed Director of the Geriatric Program and Coordinator of Geriatrics at the Columbia Area Mental Health Center and the other seven western counties in the South Central TN Development District (SCTDD). It only took two such meetings for Anna to realize this county must have an organized and chartered group of senior citizens to be able to obtain their share of the SCTDD funding that was handed down from the state and federal government. So the time had come to meet and hopefully organize a County Council of Senior Citizens not to discontinue the present clubs, but to unite them. Anna contacted many individuals to attend an organizational meeting March 16,1977 at the Mental health Center and one hundred and twenty six (126) persons registered. A charter was submitted for approval and the name Maury County Seniors Citizens, Inc. was adopted. The next day the representatives met again and elected a Board of Directors. The Charter was mailed to the State and Pete Cowsert was elected Chairman of the Board and Karen Hull Director of the Center. Arrangements were made to meet at the Mental Health Center, the National Guard Armory - then the County Court. The City of Columbia gave generous contributions for a building. The County provided a site and this location was decided upon. Services provide by the senior center have grown tremendously as our population has grown.
Impact
Programs & Services: Both the senior center in Maury County Park and the satellite center in Mt Pleasant serve seniors of all income levels. A total of 1,048 unduplicated persons aged 60 years and older were served. A total of 125 low-income non-minority persons, 185 low-income minority persons and 125 disabled individuals. Most programs are free to everyone.
Operations: For many seniors, we provide the only interaction and socialization they have in a day's time. Our activities are designed to improve Physical Coordination (Silver Sneakers, Tai Chi, Yoga, Arthritis exercise, Zumba, Walk with Ease, Wii bowling, Corn Hole, Ukulele, and Pool); Mental Outlook (crafts, painting, card games, board games, telephone reassurance and trivia); Social Skills (ballroom and line dancing, parties, volunteer opportunities, trips); and Educational Issues related to healthy aging.
Health education is a priority here at the senior center. We typically have three health-related programs each month on topics such as mental health, heart healthy diets, fall prevention, suicide awareness, preventive dental care, and COPD. We are fortunate to have a partner in this endeavor with Maury Regional Medical Center's Mobile Unit. They support us with weekly height/weight and blood pressure checks and answer questions asked by the seniors. They were particularly helpful with directing seniors to vaccine locations during the pandemic.
We strive to be a single point of entry for any assistance needed by older adults in the county. We make referrals for any services that cannot be provided in-house. We manage the Meals on Wheels program for as many as 100 county residents; offer free tax assistance through VITA volunteers, free Medicare counseling through the State Health Insurance and Assistance Program (SHIP); and assist low-income seniors with air conditioners, heaters, home repairs, incontinence supplies and pet food.
Volunteerism is encouraged here at the center. During the pandemic, our volunteers shopped for and delivered more than 400 grocery shopping trips for low-income seniors with funding provided by the CARES Act. Our volunteers are active throughout the year with Meals on Wheels delivery, assisting shut-ins with errands, teaching classes, and helping with fundraisers.
We have not adequately addressed three important topics of concern to our older adults - education and support of dementia caregivers; access to technology to address social isolation; and assisted transportation. We have partnered with outside agencies to offer programs pertaining to dementia education and teaching seniors to use tablets and laptops.
We signed a contract with South Central Tennessee Development District to sponsor MyRide Maury, a volunteer-based assisted transportation program for adults aged 60 and over who need more assistance than is provided by SCATS (South Central Area Transit System). Our program differs from SCATS in that our service is door-through-door rather than door-to-door. Our volunteers provide any additional assistance the senior needs in leaving their home, entering/exiting the vehicle and handling packages during shopping trips. The program specifically targets those people who could be socially isolated as a result of not being able to use traditional public transportation. More than 341,000 older adults in TN require some type of transportation assistance. MyRide Maury is the only program in Maury County that provides this assistance.
The program started on March 1, 2022. In the first six months of the program, we provided more than 1,000 rides to older adults in need of assisted transportation.
Needs
We would like to do a better job acknowledging the many volunteers that help us offer the programs that make us successful. Specifically, we would like financial assistance in sponsoring two major volunteer recognition events.
There are three MyRide programs in middle TN - Lawrence, Bedford and Maury counties. Although all three programs operate by the same guidelines, we have found that the program usage does vary from county to county. Maury County rides are primarily medical, no doubt because of Maury Regional Medical Center here in Columbia. We would like to request financial assistance to increase the number of hours for our P/T coordinator from 25 to 35 hours/week and to provide mileage reimbursement for our MyRide volunteers.
CEO Statement
The landscape of senior center management has changed in that it's no longer an environment where the focus is exclusively on "in-center" activities. Whether it is fundraising or programs, our success is contingent upon the creation of partnerships with like-minded agencies and the establishment of our center as a vital part of our community.
Last year we did a cake walk to support our breast cancer survivors and donated the money to breast cancer research. We raised money and bought lunches for the hospital staff during the COVID pandemic.
This year we split the proceeds from our comedy night with LuLu Roman with the TN Alzheimer's Association. Last week we manned the Welcome Booth for the Maury County Fair. In return, the Fair allowed us to sell water as a fundraiser. Our toy drive started with our Christmas in July party. Our goal is to have 400 toys to share with the Family Center for their Christmas giveaway. In return, the Family Center works with us to provide turkeys for our less fortunate seniors at Thanksgiving. We have partnered with Assisted Living Locators to present a 12-month educational series A local company that sells Medicare Supplements provided funding for our tablet class so that we can get our seniors "connected".
Every partnership, every event solidifies our role as an integral part of Maury County. We want older adults to recognize the senior center as a place to come for fun and when they need it, assistance.
Board Chair Statement
The Maury County Senior strives to provide meaningful activities including health education, physical fitness, and socialization activities. The center has a food pantry which gives food boxes in the winter months containing basic food items. The Center also provides heaters in the winter and fans and air conditioners in the summer months to those in need. Although we don't provide dental and home repair assistance directly, we partner with agencies that do. We make every effort to put those in need with these agencies.
We've worked diligently to change the perception of our center as a place "old people go to play bingo" to a destination for active and engaged older adults.
Service Categories |
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| Primary Category: | Human Services - Senior Centers/Services |
| Secondary Category: | - |
| Tertiary Category: | - |
Areas Served
Maury County, Tennessee - 38401
| TN - Maury |
