SO YOU KNOW

To donate “a chair” by giving $25 to the Boyle County Senior Citizens Center, visit www.afunplaceforseniors.org. The link is also accessible through the center’s Facebook page. Donations are also accepted via mail (569 Jean Dr, Danville, KY 40422) or in person at the center. For more information or to reach the center, call (859) 236-2070.  

A new fundraising campaign at the Boyle County Senior Citizens Center asks community members to consider giving seniors a seat — to help replace the existing chairs at the center.

“The basic premise behind that — when I was growing up, my parents taught me that if you were in a room full of people and there was a senior citizen that needed a chair, you gave your chair to that senior as a sign of respect. That was just what you did,” said Ben Guerrant, director of the Boyle County Senior Citizens Center. “Playing on that life lesson that many of us learned growing up, this is an opportunity to take that life lesson and apply it in a permanent sense. The money raised to purchase the chairs will be for our seniors to sit in for the foreseeable future.”

It’s another step in the process to make the community room, recently renamed the Danville Rotary Club Community Room, better for the seniors who use it and for the community members who also rent the space.

Currently, Guerrant said, the chairs in the center are older, wooden and very heavy. They can’t be easily stacked or stored away. He said more lightweight, easily stackable chairs are needed. 

For $25, a person can “donate” a chair for the facility, but Guerrant said any amount helps.

“If the community would like to come out and see our facility in person, they are so welcome to do that. Or they can mail a check, if they would like,” he said.

A link has also been set up to the Boyle County Senior Citizens Center’s Paypal account through the website, www.afunplaceforseniors.org, and can be accessed through the Facebook page.

Guerrant said they would like to get about 200 chairs, if possible, which would give them enough for the senior center side and the facility’s adult day center side, with plenty left over for large events. The facility hopes to open the space for non profit organizations to use for free, and for other individuals to rent out at a donation.

“Hopefully, that will take pressure off of community as they look for space for larger meetings,” Guerrant said.

The senior center sees regular use, he said — it just hosted a birthday party over the weekend and serves as the space for a square dance Saturday night, for about 100 square dancers.

Besides making things easier and more durable on the seniors, the new seats would also make the space more versatile, making it a better space for community members looking for another space to rent.

“There’s always room to improve our fiscal plan. We do want to be a beacon for the community,” he said. “While our primary purpose is to serve the seniors, we want to have the ability to extend our facility to the greater community as well.”

As part of the earlier efforts to improve the facility, Guerrant said they had raised funds from various sources, including a $10,000 donation from the Danville Rotary Club, resulting in the name change.

There is always going to be a wish list of things to do, he said, but they think it would be a good step toward helping the seniors more.

“We are eating the elephant one bite at a time. It’s a big elephant,” Guerrant said. “The needs will continue to grow as seniors age. We are crucial to help them maintain their independence.”