Senior citizens concerned about changes at center
By Michael Brooks
Staff Writer
Becky Rusk took over as the Executive Director of the Friends of Elder Citizens in Edna and Palacios in February. Rusk knew the business had been fighting financial difficulties for a number of years but also ran into some backlash from some of the Jackson County residents who don’t want to see change happen at the Senior Center.
“My job is to keep the doors opened,” Rusk said. “A lot of reorganization has been happening; a lot of updated ways to do record keeping, and more updated ways to put practices into place. When I took over, there was a thrift store operat- ing at the side entrance in the building. We operate a thrift store in Palacios that is helping keep that senior center open.
The thrift store that has operated for the past years never brought in enough money to pay for the employee that was working there so I gave her a chance to ramp it up and get it opened, but I think it is handicapped by where it is located. I had heard a lot of reasons why the thrift store didn’t make money. It is too dark. The prices are too high or too low, or we don’t have the right mer- chandise. I’ve also had people say the previous time they shopped there they didn’t like the way those women did it. I just want to start fresh.”
Rusk plans to move the thrift store out of the single room in the back and move it to the three big rooms at the front of the Senior Center. The move to the front would give the thrift store more exposure and provide ample room for an abun- dance of new merchandise, but it would also displace the seniors who attend activities and some of them are not willing to accept the change.
“Up front there are three large rooms,” Linda Slaton, a regular visitor to the Senior Center said. “We use one for Bible study, one for playing cards and games and such, and the third one is for days we have pot luck. In the back we have the thrift store. It is a little room. They have decided to move us to that little room and use all three big room in the front for the thrift store. I don’t know why she thinks we are gonna fit in that one little room. In the first place, we don’t want in that back room. There are no windows and if it rains hard, it’s come through that back door. Some of the seniors have to have walkers and handicapped parking. They don’t have handicap access and not much parking in the back by that little room. And that many people can’t fit back there.
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