Playing "Pitch" is a favorite game for these seniors, from left, Doretta Dunning, Melvin Heise, Edward Enderle and Eula Jones.

Quilting is another activity at the senior center. From left: Ruby Propst, Velma Huey, Hazel Kester and Jo Williams.

Mary Rettig of St. Francis Medical Center led seniors in a PACE (People with Arthritis Can Exercise) class at the senior center.

Of the 24 hours in a day, Hazel Kester says the five she spends at Cape Girardeau Senior Center are the most fun.

Like Kester, dozens of senior citizens make their way to the center five days a week for lunch and fellowship. The program started 22 years ago to offer nutritious lunches. Over the years, the program has expanded to include lots of different social and educational components. For many, fellowship outranks nutrition.

Kester started coming to the center in 1981 after the death of her husband. "I was looking for someplace to volunteer," she said.

When she first arrived, she knew nothing about quilting but wanted to learn. "I met some sweet ladies and they put up with me until I learned."

Today Kester is the chief quilter at the center. Volunteers do quilting for the public and the fees are donated to the center. As many as eight ladies may be quilting on any given day. Kester is almost always there.

When other commitments call her away, Kester said she literally counts the hours until she can return to the center.

Helen and George Sanders are almost as faithful. Seated in their regular spots, under the clock facing the door, the Sanders said they discovered the center after retiring to Cape Girardeau.

"I quit cooking," Helen Sanders confided. "He retired. I did too."

"Mostly we come to eat," George Sanders agreed. "But we meet a lot of good people."

Sitting with them last week was James Hayes. He is 82 years old, but no one ever guesses his age. He looks much younger.

"I've been coming here since my wife died in 1987," Hayes said. "If I wasn't coming here, I'd be eating a lot of junk food."

Also seated at the table was Margot Atwood, who was lured to the senior center by free exercise classes offered twice a week. "I've taken exercise classes at the college and other places. Here it's free, and I get just as much out of it," she said.

So every Tuesday and Thursday, she walks about two and a half blocks to the center for exercise class at 10 a.m. "Since it's so close to lunch, I usually stay,' Atwood said. "It's nice people."

Susan McClanahan, director of the center, said volunteers who man the kitchen, the ticket counter, the quilting room and who deliver meals make the center a success. Without them, the center's budget would never cover expenses.

In 1992, the center's board of directors convinced local bankers to loan them money to build a new facility at 921 N. Clark. Until that time, the center had been in leased buildings.

The new center opened in September 1993, and it operates as part of the Cape Girardeau Council on Aging. Richard Hildebrand is president. The council was formed as the organization to assume the debt on the new building.

Money leading up to the capital project was raised through bake sales and a buck-a-month club. Not much has changed.

Today, the center has an annual budget of $384,000. It receives funding from the Area Wide United Way and Cape Girardeau County's senior services tax. But much of the budget is generated through bake sales and auctions and the buck-a-month club.

"That's often how we pay the mortgage or the electric bill," McClanahan said.

Even the nutrition program barely breaks even. An average of 4,000 meals a month are served at a suggested donation price of $1.75 for those over age 60. Each meal costs about $3.50 to prepare.

An additional 60 meals are delivered to home-bound individuals each day for the same suggested donation. New requests for deliveries often end up on a waiting list.

McClanahan hopes to trim that list soon when a new delivery van is operational. Money to purchase and maintain the van came from the senior services tax.

"Our main focus is to provide a nutritious meal, and that is certainly the most visible part of the program," McClanahan said. "But socialization is also very important."

Exercise classes, free movies and popcorn, line dancing, puzzles, bingo and on-going card games help draw people in.

A bridge foursome tolerated a mid-hand interruption and said they look forward to the fellowship they have found at the center.

"I've never heard any complaints," said Norman McElreath.