Help pours in to help save community center

The Franklin County Community Center is working hard to stay open. The center needs to raise enough money to buy new equipment and continue operating.

It was originally set to close its doors Nov. 1 but thanks to a lot of recent help from the community, there’s a good chance its doors will stay open.

Carol Parker has been making the senior center’s famous rolls and keeping the center going for 26 years.

The center caters many community and business events, it gives out boxes of food to those who need a little extra help and it delivers seven meals a week to the elderly and those who can’t get around.

The number of meals they make continues to increase. Parker said back in 2011, the center did 488 meals. In August of 2018, the center was at 1,068 meals. She added that less and less people are paying for those meals too.

That, combined with a lot of equipment breakdown, has left the center in a jam.

“We’ve done pretty good until everything broke down and then when everything broke down, we just couldn’t keep up with it all,” Parker said.

The center gets 20 percent of its funding each year from the city and county and another 20 percent from SICOG, the Southeastern Idaho Council of Governments. That leaves the center to come up with the remaining 60 percent of the money.

Parker said they do several fundraisers but they need about $30,000 worth of help to stay up and running.

The center needs a new stove, a new mixer, new delivery cars, a dishwasher, a double oven, a new microwave, new flooring that isn’t falling apart, and more volunteers and drivers.

Parker said one of its biggest money makers every year is its homemade rolls, especially around the holidays when it gets several orders at once. But without the right equipment, making those rolls are becoming a challenge too.

“Last year between November and December – Thanksgiving and Christmas – we did a thousand-dozen rolls, and in order for us to keep up with that, we can’t have a mixer that stops every three or four batches,” Parker said.

That’s why she said the double oven is so important – to be able to cook more and do it more efficiently.

Since word got out several weeks ago that the center would have to close, the community has stepped up to try and keep that from happening.

Parker said she’s not sure exactly where they’re at for a total, but they’ve received countless personal donations. It’s been more than monetary too. She said someone donated a new microwave, someone donated the money specifically for the new oven, and even Maverik donated some unused industrial equipment for them. The city of Preston also donated an additional $2,000.

“I’ve been amazed at how many people have come forth and offered to help us in different ways,” Parker said. “You see some of these people that will even bring us five dollars and I think that means the world because you can see they don’t have a lot of money but they’ve brought us five dollars or $20 and every little bit counts.”

Parker said they still haven’t met their needed $30,000 but she said right now, there’s been enough support that they can at least make it past Nov. 1.

“I think we’re ready to start taking thanksgiving roll orders and pie orders,” she said.

Parker said she’s hopeful they’ll meet the rest of the goal and the center will keep its doors open for years to come.

Parker said they still need donations, but they really need more volunteers and drivers. If you would like to volunteer or find out more, you can stop by the senior center.

They will also be doing a Thanksgiving raffle where you can buy tickets and enter to win a handmade quilt and a treadmill.