Playing cards and socializing at the Middletown Senior Center in Middletown, California. Courtesy photo.

 

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. — The Middletown Senior Center has received the Parade Pioneer Award for Middletown Days 2025.

The celebration takes place this weekend, with the parade on Saturday, June 21, starting at 10 a.m. in downtown Middletown.

Lori Tourville has served as the Middletown Senior Center’s director for 13 years. The center is a private nonprofit corporation.

The center was started in 1973 by Floyd Truitt. While looking through the articles of incorporation, Tourville noticed the address of his first original office was at her current address.

What a shock, she always wondered what the office was on the other side of her garage, with a separate entrance. She surmises that she was meant to be the director 39 years later.

In 1981 John Baughman and his outreach worker Lucille Lambert leased the building at Middletown Central Park for $1.00 a year for the next 31 years.

The senior community was so grateful to have a facility to meet senior needs in Middletown. They shared the building with the Middletown Central Park Association and then began to outgrow the space.

Jacque Spiker became the director in 2000. In 2008, thanks to Spiker, then-District 1 Supervisor Ed Robey and Kelly Cox, then Lake County’s administrative officer, who collaborated in planning and volunteered personally in fundraising efforts with unwavering dedication to the project.

The first lunch was served at the center’s current location November 26, 2012. What a change from the Central Park location.

Moving into a brand-new facility was a dream come true. The facility is owned by the county and the center leases it for $1 a year. The kitchen equipment is owned by the center and all maintenance to the kitchen furnishings is the center’s responsibility.

The Middletown Senior Center is a senior nutrition program that services Middletown, Cobb and Hidden Valley Lake. The center serves approximately 35,000 meals a year to seniors in the dining room combined with meals on wheels to homebound seniors.

There are 68 clients participating in the Meals on Wheels Program. There are currently three routes. On average, 45 to 50 seniors are served in our dining room daily, excluding weekends.

The center also responds to the needs and interests of older adults and provides activities and services to help them maintain their independence by supplying them with information and assistance. In a typical week, there are over 100 phone calls or drop ins regarding senior community member needs.

The senior center is governed by an unpaid board of directors who assist as volunteers wherever needed and is staffed by five part-time employees, which includes the center director.

The annual budget is $450,000 to operate the center. The government makes up a little over one-quarter of the center’s funding with three different grants totaling $125,000.

The center also receives a grant from the Redbud Healthcare District totaling $100,000. Local businesses and clubs donated approximately $50,000.

The dining room brought in $30,741 which equals $3.28 a meal, and homebound seniors contributed $14,558, which equals $2.01 per meal. The center’s average cost per meal is $12.

The center falls short of the annual budget every year between $20,000 and $30,000. Fundraisers are required to meet the shortfall. Fundraising efforts consist of two silent auction dinners a year, March 4 Meals, chili cookoff, Subaru Share the Love, raffles and bake sales. The Senior Thrift Store made $8,000 last year.

Center officials said the three communities are awesome in supporting endeavors to help meet the senior community’s needs. The center receives financial assistance through donations from the Church of Shambhala, Lions Club, Middletown Area Merchants Association, Middletown Luncheon Club, Wine Alliance, Middletown Rancheria and Hardester’s Markets. Donations are also received from individuals.

Volunteers are key to the smooth operation of the center. There are currently over 50 active volunteers who are celebrated with an annual appreciation brunch.

Duties of the volunteers consist of driving, serving meals, greeting, working in the thrift store and video library, getting the mail, working in the office, washing windows, sweeping, playing the piano and other needs as they arise.

The total volunteer time worked last year was over 5,000 hours. Paying minimum wage, the cost would have been an additional $80,000 added to the center’s annual budget shortfall.

The goal is to get seniors out of their homes and active. It is so easy to stay in your jammies all day. Different activities are offered such as writing classes, computer lessons, and line dancing. When a new activity is presented, effort is put in to look for someone to teach or facilitate it. There is a monthly newsletter that contains an activity calendar to get the word out as well as posting on the Center Bulletin Board.

There are many future goals. Research is being done to cut electricity costs by installing covered parking structures on which to mount solar panels. In depth diabetes education is being looked into and the center is in the process of providing homebound Seniors Emergency Supply Kits.

Please contact the Senior Center at 707-987-3113 if you wish to volunteer, have ideas or want to support the Center in other ways.