The Southside Senior & Community Center has been serving seniors for 30 years, and now the center’s board and managers hope to broaden its appeal to attract more boomers and younger members, says Gary Turner, who recently was appointed executive director of the center located near the northwest corner of Ray Street and 27th Avenue.

The busy center has seven employees and 700 members, Turner says, noting that the membership has fallen from its peak of 1,200 members when it opened at its current location at 3151 E. 27th in 2002.

The center’s board of directors is looking for ways to increase membership by appealing to a broader age range, Turner says.

“The membership isn’t where we want it to be, but we’re looking to expand that,” he says. “We want to start pushing it as a community center, not just a senior center.”

The center’s board recently tweaked the name of the facility, originally the Southside Senior Activity Center. With “community” now in the name, the center hopes to attract a wider membership, says Jeff Olson, president and three-year board member of the nonprofit facility.

“Baby boomers don’t want to be identified as seniors yet,” Olson says.

Under its new name, the Southside Senior & Community Center held its first community leadership breakfast last month featuring a guest speaker, former U.S. Rep. George Nethercutt.

“We’re trying to get the business folks in,” Olson says. “We want people coming through the door.”

The next leadership breakfast, scheduled for Nov. 4, will feature Washington State University Spokane Chancellor Lisa Brown and WSU medical sciences clinical professor Dr. Deborah Harper.

Turner says much of the current membership is highly active at the center.

The center has a full calendar of activities scheduled every weekday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. or later, says Turner, who had been acting director for about five months before the board appointed him permanent executive director last week.

Most current members are 65 to 75 years old, but nearly a third of the membership is older than 75.

“Unfortunately, when 30 percent of the membership is between 75 and 90 years old, people tend to leave us,” Turner says. “Our goal is not only to offset that, but to increase membership.”

Annual membership is $50 for singles and $75 for couples.

Olson says the center is launching a campaign to promote memberships as Christmas presents for people who have everything.

Turner adds, “If you have parents who aren’t doing anything, hook them up with a community center, and let us improve their quality of life.”

Turner says the Southside Senior & Community Center is seeking businesses to sponsor people who can’t afford memberships.

Most members are residents of Spokane’s South Hill, although a few live in outlying communities.

With annual revenue budgeted at $350,000, the center relies heavily on volunteers.

“A large majority of members volunteer in one way or another,” Turner says.

Volunteers staff the front desk and gift shop daily. Volunteers also contribute time and expertise to programs, events, and operations.

An auxiliary group known as the Teal Ladies greets members and guests, leads tours of the center, and hosts lunch programs.

About a third of the Southside Senior & Community Center’s annual budget is funded through the city parks department.

Other major sources of revenue are annual membership fees, facility rentals, programs, and travel.

Facility rentals generally are considered nonmember activities, while program activities are geared primarily for members and their guests. Programs and activities often have priority in scheduling the facility.

“We have to provide for activities our members want.”

Regular member activities include bingo, table tennis, mahjongg, poker, pinochle, and bridge.

The center also hosts a number of dance and fitness classes.

“We have exercises to fit everybody, from chair exercises to Zumba,” Turner says.

The center also holds a number of fundraisers, including its semi-annual Big Garage Sale, which is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 27.

Items in the garage sale and in the center’s Classy Corner gift store are donated by members.

The 12,500-square-foot center includes a 4,600-square-foot ballroom with a 1,900-square-foot dance floor, a commercial kitchen, three meeting rooms, and administrative offices.

The center has one of the nicest dance floors in town, Turner claims, making the ballroom a popular venue, and the full kitchen helps with rentals.

“We just had a wedding reception here with a taco bar for 200 people,” Turner says.

Variety Pak, a ballroom dance band, hosts regular dances, and the venue also is equipped to accommodate deejay music systems.

The center’s active travel department organizes outings, ranging from day trips to local events and attractions, to two-week international tours. Depending on the trip, prices range from less than $50 a person to nearly $4,300.

A highlight of upcoming travel plans is a 10-day trip to Cuba in March, says travel manager Marnie McCoy. The trip will be geared toward cultural experiences, and travelers will visit homes and villages of native Cubans, McCoy says.

Other planned trips include a 10-day Peru excursion in January and a two-week tour of Spain in April. McCoy says the center also is looking to arrange a Panama Canal Cruise.

Travel plans closer to home include an overnight trip to the Walla Walla Balloon Stampede in and surrounding wine country in October and a day excursion featuring a North Pend Oreille Valley scenic train ride, also next month.

McCoy says a number of people who have come to Spokane to be near family are finding new friends at the center and travel with them.

For people who are less mobile, the Spokane Transit Authority’s paratransit buses come to the center several times a day.

“We can help people navigate the paratransit system,” McCoy says.

Turner adds, “If somebody can’t get here because they don’t have transportation, we’ll figure out a way to get them here.”

The center originally was located near the 33rd Avenue-Perry Street intersection, and moved to the Lincoln Heights Shopping Center in 1988.

In 1997, the Spokane Parks Foundation completed a feasibility study for a then envisioned senior and community center on the South Hill.

The center launched a fundraising campaign in 1998, and, over the following 30 months, successfully raised $1.5 million in donations from community foundations, businesses, organizations, and hundreds of individuals.

Construction began in mid-2001, and the center opened on New Year’s Day 2002.