Senior centers

As recent Speak Out comments and letters to the editor (like the two elsewhere on this page) demonstrate, residents who use senior centers in our area are fiercely supportive of them.

And for good reason. The centers were established to provide places where America's elderly would have access to a nutritional meal at low or no cost and would be able to socialize with people their own age.

It would be difficult to assess the value of senior centers, since so much of what they offer can't be measured. But countless senior citizens enjoy and appreciate their outings to senior centers, which often provide their only escape from loneliness and cold meals.

In Southeast Missouri, 36 senior centers in 18 counties provide 1.5 million meals a year, more than those served by centers in St. Louis and Kansas City. Many of those meals are delivered to homebound senior citizens who appreciate not only the nourishment the food provides, but also the contact with a friendly and concerned delivery person.

But now senior centers are concerned that baby boomers aren't so interested in going to senior centers. So changes are afoot to update the image of senior centers and make them both appealing and accessible to the latest wave of senior citizens.

In addition, the Southeast Missouri centers are hoping that their combined clout will help secure additional funding for their programs.

The result is a new acronym for the area's senior centers: OAKS, which stands for Older Adults Keep Serving.

The measure of success for the new marketing strategy will come as more and more baby boomers show up at senior centers -- or not. Some centers already have had to face the reality that they are no longer needed in some communities and have closed their doors. In future years, more centers may have to close for lack of participation, but others can be expected to thrive and grow.