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The Urbana Champaign County Senior Center is asking for a levy increase in the November election to expand its outreach programs and deal with the increasing number of seniors.
“I hope our voters put their arms around this and understand it’s for the benefit of the seniors in our community,” Executive Director Stacy Barnhart said. “It’s affordable and I really hope we can get this through.”
The center has had a 0.2-mill levy since 1980. It is seeking to increase that to 0.4 mills on the Nov. 4 ballot.
The senior center expects to get $295,000 a year from the new levy..
If the five-year property tax increase is approved by voters, the 0.2-mill levy would drop off.
The current levy costs the owner of a $100,000 home $7 a year, and if the new levy passed it would go up to about $14 a year.
With the additional money, Barnhart said the center would like to continue offering its food pantry program, add another free lunch for seniors during the week and expand the chore program, which seeks to keep seniors in their homes longer.
In 2013, the center provided groceries to 670 seniors through its food pantry program and in 2014 those numbers have gone up 42 percent.
The center now assists more than 1,000 people a week with groceries.
“I found a lot of older people who just can’t make ends meet,” Barnhart said. “Their benefits have been cut and allowances for food have been diminished.”
In addition to the food pantry, the center also gives a free lunch to 60 to 80 seniors every Tuesday and Barnhart said she would like to add another weekly lunch on Fridays.
These weekly lunches mean more to the seniors than just a meal, Outreach Administrator Ronda Taylor said.
“This gives them a place to come to meet new friends, be active and they are safe here,” Taylor said.
Jan Zirkle, 78, of St. Paris, has been coming to the senior center for 14 years, attends the Tuesday lunches and said she has never missed a Thursday euchre game.
“It is a wonderful place for fellowship,” Zirkle said. “You are only as old as you think you are.”
The final program the center would like to allocate more money for is the chore program, which currently has a waiting list.
The senior center partners with the United Way on the program to have residents visit the homes of seniors twice a month to assist with vacuuming, mopping and other chores.
This program can save taxpayers more money in the long run, Taylor said, if it keeps seniors in their own homes and out of nursing homes.
The senior center is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and has about 500 members who pay a $20 membership fee.
“(This levy) is vital to Champaign County, because even if they are not a senior they will be someday,” Taylor said.
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