Senior Center received unexpected $30k; will update kitchen

The blessings keep flowing for the Weiser Activity Center for Seniors.

 After almost $200,000 in donations resulted in a timely mortgage payoff, administrators recently received another unexpected gift of $30,000, which will be used to purchase new kitchen appliances.

 Senior center administrators and staff held a cake and ice cream party Saturday, Aug. 24 to officially celebrate the mortgage payoff, but it also became an opportunity to announce the kitchen upgrade.

 “We could not have done any of this without our community and without Norma Brown who started the Evelyn Stover Challenge that brought in the funds we needed to pay off the mortgage,” said senior center board Treasurer Linda Smith during a celebration that was well attended.

 The most recent donation came from the late Jim Clark whose daughter Shannon Thomas made a call to senior center President and board Director Karen Hoffer.

 “We were so surprised,” she said. “We just got the senior center building paid off and then I got a call from Shannon and she said, ‘I did see that you got your mortgage paid, so I don’t know if you need this money or not.’ Well, I almost choked. I said, ‘Yes, we can definitely use the money.’”

 Although senior center administrators were relieved by the mortgage payoff, the reality of the senior center’s further needs continued to haunt their minds.

 Critical to their operation is the much-needed replacement of kitchen equipment that is currently on life support, some appliances continually repaired and nursed along by Smith’s husband Mike.

 “Mike has worked really hard to keep some of this stuff going, but a big part of the problem is that you can’t find replacement parts. That’s what is going on right now. We’ve got to replace five different things that we really need to have,” Hoffer said, pointing out that the kitchen equipment came from the old senior center and that most of it is 20-years-old and older.

 The most recent donation, however, will more than cover the cost to replace it.

 The list includes a new Booster Heater, a restaurant-grade dish washer that uses steam to disinfect plates, utensils, containers and a variety of kitchen tools.

“Ours isn’t putting out as much heat as it used to, so for two years we’ve been spending money on disinfectant to clean the dishes,” Hoffer said. “Once we get a new one, we won’t have to do that anymore.”

 The senior center also plans to purchase new stoves.

 “I don’t know if you’ve ever been in here when there isn’t anything going on, but you can smell gas,” Hoffer explained. “That’s because the pilot light stays on all the time, which most of them do, but this one’s so old that you smell the gas. It scares a lot of people, so we had someone come in and look at it. It’s all right, but new stoves need to be bought and put in.”

 Also needed is a condenser for the walk-in cooler, which Hoffer said is, “ready to blow.”

 “We want to go with air fryers, too, because it’s healthier, but they are terribly expensive,” she said. “We do have a deep fat fryer, which also has problems on and off.”

 The total cost for all the items, some that are not listed here, is $12,281, down from an initial cost of $16,000, Mike negotiating a lower price.

 The remainder of the money will be used to replace the kitchen’s cabinets.

 “That stuff is expensive so it will probably take the rest of the money,” Hoffer said. “So, she (Shannon) wants us to put the money toward that stuff. When we get the kitchen all done, we are going to make a plaque and have Jim Clark’s name put on there because it was donated by him.”

 A memo from Thomas to Hoffer indicates her wish to have the money go toward updating the kitchen.

 “It is my understanding that the Weiser Senior Center is in need of a kitchen remodel; these funds are intended to be directed to that effort,” the memo states. “My father, Jim Clark, spent many days there, enjoying coffee, the salad bar, lunch and conversation with his companions at his table. He died last year and these funds are donated in his memory.”

 Jim died in June 2023 as a result of heart failure. His obituary states that his son Chris and daughter-in-law Gina were with him when he passed. It also revealed that Jim held a bachelor’s in Biology Education from Idaho State University and spent 27 years as a teacher with U.S. Department of Defense Schools. He taught elementary, junior and high school on military bases in the Philippines, Germany, Turkey, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and England, accompanied by his wife Sharon and their two daughters Shannon and Michelle and son Christopher.