Extraordinary Turnout for Senior Center’s Fundraising Effort

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Three weeks into the closure of the Wallingford Senior Center, save for a few programs and one remaining staff member, the now ghost town of a building exploded with bluegrass music and the energized voices of well over 100 people last night. In attendance were staff members, the Center’s Board of Directors, members from the Chamber of Commerce and the Wallingford Community Council, local seniors, families and notable local politicians: 2009 mayoral candidate, Joe Mallahan and city councilmember, Tom Rasmussen.


Photos by Matt Mason

The line just to get in was out the door and down the hall. People doled out donations as they passed through the main lobby, heading toward dinner where they met yet another considerable line, snaking through the entire length of the dining hall. The enthusiastic crowd passed the time in line chatting with old friends, hugging one another and laughing. Tables and chairs filled up quickly as people sat down to a dinner of hot clam chowder, tortilla and vegetable barley soup, along with generous slices of specialty breads. A dessert table sat off to the side, largely drawing in the 10-and-under crowd, and was loaded with cookies, donuts and bite-size pieces of chocolate.

Early into the meal, local bluegrass band Lost in the Fog took the stage, cheered on by guests. Once most of the crowd had finished supper, Kathleen Cromp, Executive Director of the Wallingford Community Senior Center, took the stage to  introduce a range of speakers, including members and friends of the Center and Tom Rasmussen.

Offstage, local politicians and Wallingford officials weighed in on how best to tackle the Senior Center’s current financial dilemma and the threat of permanent closure. President of the Wallingford Council Senior Center (WCSC) Board, Jim Stillman explained that as of Dec 1, all remaining programs and lunches will be cut. While the Center is actively working with the city and some major donors, neither party wants to be the first to step forward, he said. According to him, the primary dilemma is that the City Council doesn’t want to give money to an organization that doesn’t have the necessary community backing, and the private donors don’t wish to fund the Center if their contribution will only go toward paying off the debt of an organization that will inevitably go under.

The Senior Center needs $300,000, he said. From the city, they need $96,000 to pay off their 2009 rent and $200,000 from private donors (and the community) to take the Center completely through 2010–$100,000 of which is needed to get them through the end of this year. The Center’s lease with Historic Seattle expires Jan 1, and while their landlord is willing to offer a month-by-month commitment, Stillman said, “At some point in time, we’re just gonna have to say we can’t do it.” As of now, the Center needs conditional commitments. They are just pledges–no one has to write a check, but it would be a way to demonstrate to the city that the community’s serious and willing to extend the necessary effort, he said. “We’re looking for anybody to make commitments to us. If they want to make a commitment of $250 or $1,000…all we need is the promise.”

Mallahan, Rasmussen and Wallingford Community Council President, Mary Heim all expressed similar sentiments regarding the need for more community involvement and support. A Wallingford resident, Mallahan said that while he has worked with Cromp to lobby the City Council to help, the Center is a private enterprise. He said he’ll always encourage the city to be a funder, but that this needs to be an effort among indivduals as well as organizations. He added that it’s not just the Wallingford Senior Center that’s in dire need of better funding, though. “The city should be doing a better job funding all eight senior centers,” he said.

“This is a wake up call,” Rasmussen said. While the city can put in some money, the organization has to have a whole funding plan, he explained. “It’s not unique to Wallingford,” he said. “Many of the centers that are successful are those that get people of all ages raising money and supporting their centers.” Onstage, he drove home the point that we will all one day be senior citizens and it’s in everyone’s best interest to support the Center right now. “This is insurance for our future too,” he said.

Heim explained that it may come down to the need for monthly donations from community members. “That may be what it takes if people want to keep this,” she said. She said that there are substantial donors in the picture, and to see this kind of commitment shows them that they’re not just throwing money away. “This turnout is a huge demonstration that the community’s behind it,” Heim said.

Seniors immediately felt the effects of the Center’s cutbacks. The lunch program that once ran three times a week was reduced down to just two at the end of October, and the monthly spaghetti dinner and pancake breakfasts were indefinitely canceled. On average, 20-25 seniors show up for the weekly lunch program (most of them regulars), paying a suggested donation of three dollars for a complete meal. Director of the Wallingford Neighborhood Office, Janet Stillman said she receives constant calls from seniors about the lunch program. Some call and say, “Can I still eat at the Senior Center this week?” she said. Before the program was cut, a lot of people ate there three times a week, she explained. “People cannot believe this is happening…they’re astounded,” Stillman said. A lot of the people who attend the lunches are men, she added. While the husband is usually the first to pass away, sometimes they become widowers and can’t fend for themselves. She said that some just pass out in the middle of the Center from dehydration because they’re aren’t remembering to drink enough water.

Cromp said that 43% of the Center’s population is low or very low income and for some people who use the lunch program, that’s the only meal of their day. “I think this is shaking up our seniors in a really big way,” she said.

Not just the seniors are feeling the program cuts, though. One member of the audience said that his children have grown up with the monthly spaghetti dinners. “I think we’ve missed one or two spaghetti dinners in three or four years. My kids look so forward to it,” he said. He went on to tell the crowd how his daughter created a piggy bank fund, mostly supported by the sale of toys to her younger brother, amounting to $54. She told him, “Papa, we’ve gotta do something to save the Senior Center.”

Cromp also brought a woman onstage who came to the WSC after her own center closed down after 50 years of operation. Cromp told the audience the woman was heartbroken by her previous center’s closure and that she told Cromp,  “I’m an old senior and I don’t deserve to have my heart broken again.”

Member Ralph Moser told the crowd how he moved here with his wife, Nancy from New York four years ago, wanting to be closer to family. They’ve been active in the Center ever since. They looked at two centers in the area, but “this is the place we wanted to bond with,” he said. They’re just five minutes from home and take part in exercise programs, yoga, hot lunches, current events and spaghetti suppers. “Some of the people here are very dear friends of ours now, and that wouldn’t have happened without the Senior Center,” he said.

At the end of October, the Center was forced to lay off all staff except for Cromp, including one 23-year volunteer and staff member, Sara Bernson. Cromp now single-handedly runs the WSC,  has worked without pay for months, voluntarily took a pay cut and works longer weeks than ever before. “That’s the nature of non-profit directors,” she said, quickly glossing over the fact that she currently works 65 hours per week (compared to her previous schedule of 55-hours-a-week) and is three or four months behind in her salary. She said that she tried not to go into the fundraiser with too high of hopes. “I tried very hard to ratchet down my own personal expectations,” she said. She said she was blown away by the turnout. “So many people worked really hard to pull it off,” she said, regarding the fundraiser. “I am totally moved by this response.”

Bernson, the Center’s former Outreach Operational Coordinator began volunteering at the WSC in the mid-80s, eventually becoming a staff member. Her hours were reduced in October, but was laid off shortly after. “We didn’t have a choice, but to lay staff off,” she said. She began volunteering after her mother called her one night in 1986 and told her that there was a pancake breakfast the next morning, that they needed volunteers and she’d see her in the morning. She’s worked at the Center ever since. Both her mother and father were heavily involved in the Center during their lifetime. “They’re [the seniors] with people who understand what they’re going through,” she said.

What you can do to help!

  • Volunteer at the Senior Center or offer to help the Center’s Board
  • Checks can be made payable to “Wallingford Community Senior Center” and mailed to 4649 Sunnyside Ave N, Suite 140, Seattle, WA 98103
  • Check back for additional information on Wallyhood and spread the word to friends and family
  • Contact your local city council members by snail mail (Seattle City Hall, PO Box 34025, Seattle, WA 98124-4025), phone or e-mail:

1 Comment

  1. Wallyhood
    November 20, 2009 at 10:40 pm

    And many, many kudos are due Kara C. of the Chamber, who led the organizing of the event. I would say tirelessly, but I think it actually left her very, very tired. Big job well done.

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