TODAY IS MOVING DAY FOR SENIOR CITIZENS

Today is moving day for patrons of the Cape Girardeau Senior Center.

Jo Nell Lingo, administrator at the center, said senior citizens will have a final meal today at the Cape Civic Center on Broadway before workers begin moving equipment and supplies to the new $400,000 facility at 921 N. Clark.

Lingo said Senior Center patrons will breathe a collective sigh of relief to be in the new building, although it remains unfinished.

"It's been right at seven months since we let the contract for the building," Lingo said. "It's been a long wait."

The kitchen in the new building is slated to be open for noon meals on Wednesday. There will be no meals served Monday and Tuesday.

Initially, seniors hoped to hold a New Year's Eve party at the facility. But construction delays blamed primarily on uncooperative weather pushed back the opening six months.

The facility has been designed specifically to meet the needs of seniors, with 8,040 square feet of floor space; 105 parking spaces are also planned.

The building will seat 50-75 percent more people for meals, and it also includes two areas where meetings and classes can be held.

Lingo said the center must move this month or lose $3,000 in federal money. She had budgeted moving costs, but the federal fiscal year ends Wednesday.

"We'll be happy to get there," Lingo said. "Unfortunately, we're not going to be able to have an open house for a while, because it's going to take some time to get all moved in and the building finished."

To save money on the building project, senior citizens are doing some of the finishing work on the center themselves.

The project has been plagued by delays since the contractor, E.R. Thompson Construction Co., bid on the building last August.

"Of course, the rain and the mud delayed work all winter," Lingo said. "All the things that could possibly go wrong have seemed to happen."

Ed Thompson of Thompson Construction said his crews are working feverishly to finish the building sufficiently to enable the Senior Center to move.

"We've got about three weeks' worth of work to do, but we're going to get it done this weekend," he said.

Thompson said that although the contract was bid in August, his company didn't get the green light to start work until Nov. 16 due to delays in getting the financing approved for the project.

"Then we sat there and watched it rain in December, January and February," Thompson added. "This winter really killed us.

"But we've got people working weekends, nights and everything else. They can't do more than they're doing now."

Thompson predicted that all the "odds and ends" would be wrapped up in about a week.

Seniors have raised money for the building through donations and other events such as bake sales. No government funds will be used for the building.

Now that the hard work is ready to pay off, Lingo said it will be time to take advantage of the new, larger facility.

"There will be much more parking, which will let more people come and participate," she said. "We're going to have more supportive service programs then we have now, and we'll probably expand that even more later on."