Sac City, IA

     A portion of Sac City’s low-income population consists of older adults.  One key source of support for Sac City’s elderly is the Senior Center, where congregate meals and home delivered meals are provided, along with social and educational activities.  The Senior Center is drab, small, and not fully handicapped-accessible, so one of the local Horizons project goals is to improve the Senior Citizens center.  Initially the work group did not know whether the best route would be to use the existing building or to seek a new site.  Design analysis has indicated that remodeling can alleviate the accessibility issues and organize the existing space more effectively, so the group is proceeding to work on improvements to the existing building, which is a historical landmark and conveniently located downtown.    

     Because of some unique history, a first step was to determine who actually owns the building.  Investigation revealed that ownership has recently passed completely to the County.  When approached, County Supervisors and staff were open to exploring possibilities for improving the facility.  As a first step the Supervisors voted to install all new windows to improve the building’s comfort, energy efficiency and appearance.  The county will provide the funds for this step, and window replacement will take place this summer.  The Horizons Senior Center Work Group will continue to explore possibilities and costs for making more improvements to the building.  No decisions have been made about how to pay for additional remodeling, but the project is off to a good start in cooperating with the county. 

Sherrill

      The Community Resource Center committee has had several meetings and the members have come up with a number of great ideas.     

     The core objectives of the Community Resource Center are to make sure community members are aware of the many resources available to help residents in need, and to help them overcome any barriers to accessing those resources.  To effectively meet that goal, the committee is focusing on ensuring that the center will be self-sufficient and in an area easily accessed.  The committee is in the process of exploring ideas for fundraising and is considering requesting donations from various businesses and organizations in exchange for printing their logos on the center’s brochure.  This could conceivably generate enough money to take care of the monthly expenses.    

     There have been several ideas where the center could be located and the committee is currently in the process of researching.    

     The members are very excited about their progress and are working diligently to get the center into operation as soon as possible. 

Sherrill