The new address will be 211 Elder Street, a perfect address, for a new ‘elder center’
by Mark Craddock
WALSENBURG — More than a dozen local civic leaders gathered Thursday to break ground on a new 5,000 square-foot senior center to be built in Walsenburg.
By mid-June, the facility should be open, according to Veronica Maes, director of the Area Agency on Aging Region 14, who has spark-plugged the project for years.
For Maes, the groundbreaking represented exciting times for the AAA and for the South Central Council of Governments. But she didn’t portray it as a personal crowning achievement.
In many respects, she said, it’s the culmination of a vision of community service that has percolated through the state since the mid 1970s, by a group of forward-looking civic and business leaders who envisioned the need to take a bigger-picture view of local government – to take care of its aging citizens.
The Area Agency on Aging itself was established in 1973 under the federal Older Americans Act, to respond to the needs of older adults and their caregivers.
About the same time, the concept of regional councils of government gained traction as a way for civic leaders from different local governments to work on big-picture issues important to all. COG and AAA was a match made in heaven.
“When COG first kind of became COG, my father in law was actually one of the original COG members, the founders,” Maes said. “So full-circle, huh?”
“What those men envisioned in the ‘70s, 50 years ago, what would they say today, now that we’ve come this far and have our own space?”
One thing that is painfully apparent is the region’s demographic shifts over the past 50 years, and the growing need for seniors services. According to the Colorado State Demographer, a full 44% of Huerfano County’s population is now over the age of 60. In 1975 that number was closer to 20%.
In an unlikely turn of events, the vision was kick-started by more-recent events – a local natural disaster and a worldwide pandemic.
“What really ticked all of this off was the Spring Fire in 2018,” she said.
In the fire’s aftermath came elevated flood danger and the Walsenburg Community Center, which had been the local hub of SCCOG and AAA’s activities for years, was squarely in the middle of a potential flood zone. County officials said they had to go.
SCCOG found a site on Polk Ave, well above any potential flooding, and built the existing administrative office.
“But I couldn’t move,” Maes said. “I need a commercial kitchen.”
With the county’s blessing, Maes and the AAA continued operating at the community center, all the while seeking funds to facilitate a move to the Polk Avenue location.
“There was a lot of chatter in the Area Agency on Aging, that they are trying to get us some money to do some of thee capital projects,” Maes said. “And then COVID hit in March of 2020, which was a turning point for our whole world, pretty much.”
The government response to the pandemic brought with it millions of dollars in federal and state aid, which the local AAA was able to tap into.
“The state legislature came through and said, ‘OK, we’re going to put $15 million into a grant that is specifically for Area Agencies on Aging,’ ” Maes said. “We are the baby. By far we are the smallest. And thankfully the directors in Denver, Colorado Springs, those bigger areas, said ‘we want the smaller areas to really go after this money.’”
She said the local AAA was the biggest single recipient of that grant, netting some $1.5 million to build its senior center.
In addition, they have received funds from Denver-based Daniels Fund, the El Pomar Foundation, and Next 50.
The group had been brainstorming less-expensive alternatives such as adding a commercial kitchen onto its existing Polk Ave. administrative building. But flush with grant money, the team went back to the drawing board, with architects from DK Horn Engineering and Design, to design a standalone center which will truly meet the community’s needs into the future.
—The new facility will be a senior center, she said, but will also house SCCOG’s administrative offices.
“And we’ll have windows there,” she said, looking at the unbroken expanse of walls in the current conference room.
The building will feature the commercial kitchen Maes requires, along with a cafeteria to host the AAA’s daily meal service and other activities, modest exercise facilities, and office space.
From there, she said, the sky’s the limit in terms of programs and activities the organization can bring to bear for the region’s aging citizens.
She said the general contractor on the project, Bonham Construction, has estimated construction will be complete in 120 days, once construction commences.
Maes said the AAA will be taking over operation of the Trinidad senior center next week, and operates meal sites in Aguilar, Segundo and La Veta as well. She said this may open the door for some sorts of regional activities.
Perhaps it’s providence, or just dumb luck, but the new site will not carry a Polk Ave. address, because it faces another city street.
The new address will be 211 Elder Street.
What a perfect address, Maes mused, for the new “elder center.”
