White Center Community Center’s new facility
will improve upon family, youth and senior services
already offered. Construction began on February
4, 2003. The $7.5 million goal will fund an enlarged
food bank, a new gym, formal homework center,
and expanded senior center.
Valuable
volunteer at Seattle White Center
Eugene
gets up every morning at 5:00 a.m. and drives
the mile distance to work so he can arrive
at 6:45. He has been "working" at
The Salvation Army senior center since 1977
after retiring from Boeing. He doesn't recall
the exact date but remembers it was a Monday.
At 92 years old he
is still sharp as a whip and loves to work.
He begins his day by receiving all of the
food donated to the community center. He
hand washes every egg, blueberry and head
of lettuce they receive. He takes pride
in making the expired food look fresh again,
sorting through the rotten items to find
the good products.
After everything has
been washed, sorted and cleaned it is laid
out on a table so the seniors who live on
a very tight income can choose items they
will use at home. When he was younger, before
he turned 80, Eugene was in charge of driving
large vans full of seniors wherever they
needed to go. Once he turned eighty and
the van had broken down on him three times
he took that as a sign that perhaps he was
getting too old to drive that large van.
He just didn't feel right about it anymore.
During the big winter
storm, Eugene came to the center; when the
power went out, he came to the center. "Someone
has to be there to open the doors,"
said Eugene. He feels needed here; if he
doesn't come who else would do his job.
Having a sense of purpose in life makes
getting out of bed in the morning a lot
easier. Like many of the seniors, this is
what they do; this is their purpose.
