County seniors open funding drive

Dale City resident Gloria Lillie is too sick right now to attend the Woodbridge Senior Center.

Lillie, who’s battling lung disease, said she misses her friends and hopes she can return soon to a place that assists seniors not only mentally and physically but emotionally as well.

“Sitting in one home all day can be nothing but depressing for anyone’s mental health,” said Lillie, who estimated that she attended the center two or three times a week for several years before she got ill.

Lillie is one of more than 800 individuals that have signed a petition urging the Prince William County Board of Supervisors to keep funding for the centers — both in Woodbridge and Manassas — at its current levels.

On Oct. 31, all county departments reported scenarios that involved 10, 20 and 33 percent cuts in their respective budgets. These proposed scenarios were done with the assumption that the county would have a total shortfall of $82 million for fiscal 2010 thanks to plummeting real estate values.

At 20 and 33 percent, the centers begin charging for lunches two days a week and Wednesday dinner, as well. This scenario would also cut transportation for those who can’t get to either center from five days a week to three days.

According to Prince William Area Agency on Aging Director Courtney Tierney, 208 of the 3,431 people who attended the centers at some point during the 2008 fiscal year used these services.

The 33 percent scenario, which would save the agency roughly $650,000, could also include the elimination of a senior center manager position.

Currently, the agency’s budget pays for meals for five days a week at both locations. In order to receive federal funding as required by the Older Americans Act, the agency must provide a meal five days a week in at least one place in the county, said Tierney.

Some of that cost is offset by donations from those eating meals at the center. If the center begins to charge for some lunches, Tierney said they would likely form focus groups with the participants to see what kinds of meals they would like and how much to charge for the meals.

Retired Marine Corps officer and Triangle resident Phil Mitchell has been coming to the Woodbridge Senior Center on and off for a decade and attended the recent holiday lunch sponsored by the Dale City Moose Lodge #2165.

He signed the petition earlier this month and called the center an “asset.” Open five days a week, the center provides a number of activities and classes, has a popular craft shop and, in general, is the source of much happiness for its attendees.

The petition states, “many seniors depend on their senior centers to provide their only avenue of recreation, socialization, health and wellness education, technical and safety education and/or entertainment.”

“It’s a godsend to many, many people,” Lillie said. “It’s sort of a permanent situation. You can have these other organizations [for seniors] but that place is open five days a week.”

Mitchell suggested the supervisors cut their salaries before they cut funding to the senior center. “If they want to lead the county and provide leadership, they should start by reducing their own salaries,” he said.

Staff writer Kipp Hanley can be reached at 703-878-8062.