The Jefferson City/Cole County Senior Nutrition Council will determine during a special meeting Feb. 5 when to schedule a soft opening at the new senior center on West Main Street.
The nutrition council met Monday for the first time at the West Point Senior Center.
Equipment and furnishings have been moved into the center. City inspections addressing fire suppression and health needs will take place this week, along with hiring an employee to join the staff running the center.
Administrator Nathan Baysinger said the fire department had already made sure extinguishers were in their proper places at the new center and just needed to do one more final check.
Baysinger said the building has a capacity for 100 people, similar to the capacity of the Clarke Senior Center cafeteria on Linden Drive.
A United Way of Central Missouri community support grant of $7,500 helped the Senior Nutrition Council make this second senior center a reality after the senior nutrition site in Capital Mall had to close its doors last spring to make way for a new store.
Baysinger said they are still determining the final cost of renovations. He noted the programs they had at the mall site will be the same at the West Point location, such as tai chi, and clubs can come in. One club that used the mall site was the Jefferson City Bridge Group, and group members presented a donation check for $1,500 to the council Monday.
The United Way partners with the Senior Nutrition Council to provide those aged 60 and older in the Jefferson City area the assistance they might need to remain self-sufficient and in their homes. The council is led by a group of volunteers who, along with staff of the Central Missouri Area Agency on Aging, make decisions concerning the Clarke Senior Center and the West Point Center. The centers help meet the nutritional needs of senior citizens in Cole and Osage counties.
The centers provide two primary programs - the congregate meal program, where seniors come to the centers for a meal, and the homebound meal program, known as "Meals 4 U," where volunteers deliver meals to those who have difficulty leaving their homes.