SPRING INTO ACTION: PARADE TO SUPPORT SENIOR CITIZENS ON MAY 16  (published 5/13/2020)

Celebrate our Valley’s older citizens, while staying safe yourself, in the first ever Spring into Action parade honoring senior citizens in Snoqualmie and North Bend this Saturday. From 10 a.m. to noon, a parade of fire, police, Snoqualmie Valley Transportation and senior care facilities vehicles will wind through our community, marking Older Americans Month and the start of Mt. Si Senior Center’s Week of Giving virtual fundraiser.

“We are parading for senior citizens for many reasons,” said Mt. Si Senior Center Executive Director Susan Kingsbury-Comeau.

Celebrating Older Americans Month is just the start of it. The parade is also to highlight the situation of many seniors, especially vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic, doing their best to stay safe at home but feeling increasingly isolated, to raise awareness of the senior center and other community partners supporting our seniors, and just to bring some joy to the community.

Parade participants will be urged to follow the social distancing and safety best practices recommended by state health officials, including staying at least six feet apart. Parade goers are invited to watch from their cars, in one of the parking lots along the designated route, see below, and are urged to wear facemasks.

Besides ensuring their own safety, parade watchers will also be asked to cheer as the parade passes and generate some energy around supporting seniors in meaningful ways.

“We want to inspire people,” said Kingsbury-Comeau, “encourage them to share how they support the senior citizens in their lives, so that others are motivated to spring into action for seniors… We’d really love to see people plaster all over Facebook or Instagram their pictures or stories of the ways they are supporting seniors, and to use the hashtags #SpringIntoAction and #SupportOurSeniors and #mtsiseniorcenter or @mtsiseniorcenter.”

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The parade is also part of Mt. Si Senior Center’s Week of Giving, an all-online fundraiser, May 15 to 21, that replaces the planned benefit auction this month. All week, the Center website and Facebook page will feature a series of posts from staff, board members, and guests, discussing the importance of the Center in the lives of seniors. The goal for the Week of Giving is $45,000, and donations have already exceeded $22,000. Learn more and donate at www.mtsiseniorcenter.org.

Parade Route
The parade will begin staging in Snoqualmie, on Bracken Avenue SE, between SE Center Street and SE Douglas Street, facing Douglas. At the start, the parade will proceed along Douglas, to SE Ridge Street, to Fairway and onto Snoqualmie Parkway/Railroad Avenue. In downtown Snoqualmie, the route will turn onto SE Newton Street, then onto Park Street, then onto Meadowbrook Way SE. From Meadowbrook, the parade heads into North Bend, turning onto Bendigo Boulevard, then onto W Park Street,  Main Avenue SE, Stow Avenue S, E Park Street, North Bend Way, to Torguson Park. The parade turns around at the park back onto North Bend Way, following SE Orchard Drive to end at Si View Park.
Viewing points along the route will be at Cascade Elementary School and the Snoqualmie Valley YMCA, at Adventure Bowl in downtown Snoqualmie, at Ace Hardware and Mt. Si Senior Center, along Stow Avenue South, and at Torguson and Si View Parks.

Confirmed participants at time of publication include:
Snoqualmie Fire Department   *   Snoqualmie/North Bend Police Department   *   Eastside Fire and Rescue  *  Snoqualmie Valley Transportation  *  Mt. Si Senior Center  *  Aegis Living of Issaquah  *          Regency at North Bend  *  Humana  *  We Speak Medicare  *  Seattle Mountain Rescue  *  Frankie's Pizza  *  Snoqualmie Valley Food Bank  *  Valley Professional Cleaning Service

Best viewing:  Take advantage of one of the fine parking lots along the parade route.

Parade Viewing: people viewing the parade are asked to
  • Maintain a distance of 6 feet from individuals outside their household
  • Avoid congregating or gathering
  • Remain in their cars, wear facemasks, and follow the above mentioned COVID-19 protocols.
  • Make use of the multiple parking lots where seniors and community members can view the parade. See route for more information.

Stay healthy: In accordance with Governor Inslee’s Stay Home, Stay Health order this parade will promote the following best practices to ensure health and safety, including
  • Everybody wears a mask
  • Nobody touches same object
  • Everybody in their own vehicles with their own living partners. 
  • No physical pre or post celebration event.  
  • No congregating

We look forward to celebrating seniors with our community this Saturday!

Like Mt Si Senior Center on Facebook

SOME OTHER INTERESTING NEWS ABOUT AGING

The Growing Cost of Aging in America Part 1: An Aging Population and Rising Health Care Costs

Americans are living longer than ever. In 1900, 4.1 percent of the U.S. population was 65 and older. The Census Bureau projects that by 2050, nearly 20 percent of the population will be 65 and older External link . This unprecedented demographic shift is the result of several factors External link , including the aging baby-boom generation, a reduction in smoking  External link  and other lifestyle changes, and significant medical advances related to infectious and chronic diseases. But a growing aging population — especially among those older than 85, who are most likely to require expensive long-term care, suffer disability or require assistance with daily activities — comes with serious financial consequences.

Click HERE for the full article from Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University.

THANKS TO OUR NEWSLETTER ADVERTISERS

Because of our advertisers, Mt. Si Senior Center is able to reach more seniors in North Bend, Snoqualmie and Fall City.  With their support we print and distribute 500 copies of our 20 page, full color newsletter every month.

​We are reaching more seniors. Many seniors already know about the resources and activities available to them at Mt. Si Senior Center. But there are many more seniors and aging adults who would benefit from and even thoroughly enjoy a visit to Mt. Si Senior Center.

​If your business serves adults age 5o and older and you would like to be a distribution location for our newsletter, please contact Susan Kingsbury-Comeau at 425-888-3434 or by email at susan@mtsiseniorcenter.org.

Our Advertisers:
American Standard
A Place for Mom
​​​24Seven Medical Alert System
Red Oak Residence of North Bend
​​​ADT Home Security
​The Cascade Team
​Shape Up 50+ (a program funded by King County Emergency Medical Services)

MT SI SENIOR CENTER BUYS CASCADE PARK APARTMENTS, PRESERVES LOW-INCOME
SENIOR HOUSING (published 4/9/2020)

Mt. Si Senior Center bought an apartment complex March 27, officially closing on the long-anticipated purchase of Cascade Park Apartments in North Bend. This makes the Center the owner of the only two low-income housing complexes for seniors in the Upper Snoqualmie Valley, the 39-unit Sno Ridge Apartments already owned by the Center, and the 28-unit Cascade Park. The purchase, in the works since December 2017, has preserved the small amount of affordable housing already in the Snoqualmie Valley and, more importantly for Cascade Park residents, it saved their homes. 

“All of us are thrilled that it’s going to remain in the Valley,” said Char Esch, a 25-year resident. “We were all just holding our breath for a long time.”

Ownership of the property could have gone to a commercial real estate developer and the apartments converted to market-rate dwellings, if Mt. Si Senior Center leadership hadn’t found a way to make an offer – asking price $4,475,000 – by the June 30, 2018, deadline. 

The apartments were built in the 1980s with U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development funds. As a result, the sellers were constrained by USDA rules to entertain offers only from nonprofit organizations for the first six months it was on the market. 
Susan Kingsbury-Comeau, Executive Director of Mt. Si Senior Center, and her board immediately recognized the huge opportunity before them to purchase the apartments, but she recalled “In December, 2017 this seemed really unlikely… It was two days after Christmas, when we found out about it.” 

It was impossible to give up on the idea, though, so Center leadership pooled resources and Kingsbury-Comeau met with North Bend realtor Jonathan Pearlstein to assess the possibilities for making a viable offer, in addition to upgrades and repairs for a total cost closer to $6 million in all. They soon enlisted aid from local and county sources, including Valley cities, King County Housing Authority, King County Councilwoman Kathy Lambert, and then-serving state officials Paul Graves, Jay Rodne and Dave Reichert.

“We have worked with amazing people, whose expertise and influence was critical in navigating us through the Byzantine 2 ½ year process of purchasing Cascade Park Apartments. We’ve finally made it across the finish line,” said Kingsbury-Comeau.

Helping to put the Center in the race at the start was King County Housing Authority, providing both technical and financial assistance to complete what Dan Watson of KCHA called “a very challenging technical process.”

Keeping Cascade Park as low-income housing was as much a priority for KCHA as it was for the Center, Watson explained. “We see any federally assisted low-income housing for seniors, or families, or for anybody else, as critically important to preserve…” he said. “It’s very important that it not convert to market rate housing….and it just makes all the sense in the world that Cascade Park Apartments be preserved and be a resource for the community and that Mt. Si Senior Center, with its experience, would would own and operate it.”

“We’re extremely pleased that Mt. Si Senior Center was able to put together the financing and acquire and preserve Cascade Park Apartments as affordable housing for seniors.,” he added.
The successful acquisition has been a cause for celebration. 
“I am very happy to see Mt. Si Senior Center finalizing the purchase of the Cascade Park Apartments and I commend their efforts to preserve vital affordable housing in our region,” Lambert said last week. “This significant project was made possible thanks to the joint effort of Mt. Si Senior Center, North Bend, King County, and King County Housing Authority. This preserves the existing housing that we have and we look forward to continuing to work with our partners to increase this important housing opportunity.”

Both North Bend and Snoqualmie Mayors talked about the need for affordable housing in their communities in their comments. 
Snoqualmie Mayor Matt Larson said, “Congratulations to Mt. Si Senior Center for their successful purchase of the Cascade Park Apartment complex. Affordable housing—especially for seniors on fixed incomes -- is one of the most pressing issues of our time. This is a considerable achievement and I am very grateful to all who helped make this happen on behalf of some of the most vulnerable in our community.”
"Affordable housing is a top priority for City Council and our staff. We are thrilled to learn that Mt. Si Senior Center closed on the Cascade Park Apartments and preserved this low-rent housing for our senior population,” said North Bend Mayor Rob McFarland. “This is a win for our community."

Cascade Park tenant Louise Trew concurred. “I was hoping that this would be the result. I know that the senior center is dedicated to making sure there is housing available, affordable housing for seniors.” 
Trew moved in only two years ago, when the sale had already been announced, and had been worried  about being displaced if the property were sold to a commercial developer. If that happened, she said, “I think a lot of people couldn’t afford to be here, and from what I understand, they would have been told they had to go live somewhere else.” 
Esch remembered how it felt when she first found out the building would be sold. “We were all trying to plan… It was such a shock to so many of us, we didn’t know what to do. Senior housing all has these huge waiting lists. And there’s nothing out here in North Bend, except this building, and the one right next to it.” 

She moved to North Bend in 1995 and didn’t want to leave, nor did she want to live with her children nearby, she said. Speaking for many Cascade Park tenants, who have become like family, she said, “We still want to live independently.” 

Under Senior Center ownership, Cascade Park Apartments will continue as subsidized housing. Tenants must be re-qualified annually to continue living in the apartments so rates can sometimes change, but will never exceed 30 percent of a tenant’s income. 
Margo Stevenson, a resident for nearly four years, is thankful for the assistance. 

“I love it here, absolutely love it. I feel safe and secure. I don’t pay much, thank God,” she said. “Well, I can’t. I only make $800 a month.” 
She also truly appreciates her home, and is perfectly happy to follow the statewide stay-home order in place because of the COVID-19 outbreak. 
“I am so content just to stay here. I am not bored, I’m not climbing the walks, I’m just comfortable,” she said. 

All the tenants, though, are looking forward to the future day when the Center will mark the purchase of Cascade Park Apartments with a ribbon cutting celebration. All who helped make the purchase possible will be on the guest list, including King County Housing Authority representatives, King County Councilwoman Kathy Lambert, U.S. Congresswoman Kim Schrier, former State Representatives Jay Rodne and Paul Graves, former North Bend Mayor Ken Hearing, the team at JH Brawner, Pacific Development, the legal team at Montgomery Purdue Blankinship & Austin, Coast Property Management, USDA officials, King County staff, and our local Valley officials.

MSSC CONTINUES OUTREACH TO SENIORS DURING STAY AT HOME ORDER (published 4/6/2020)

Despite its closed doors, Mt. Si Senior Center is continuing its mission to serve seniors and older adults in the Upper Snoqualmie Valley. The Center, like many community businesses, responded to Washington Governor Jay Inslee’s call to reduce public gatherings in an effort to reduce the spread of COVID-19, and closed to the public on March 12.
 
It did not, however, close down. Immediately, the Center began providing take-out lunches to seniors who signed up for the Meals to Go program, which is continuing. Center staff and volunteers are also making weekly social check-in calls with more than 400 senior households.
 
“We want to make sure our seniors are feeling cared for and connected,” said Mt. Si Senior Center Executive Director Susan Kingsbury-Comeau.
 
The Center’s Meals to Go program is now serving 40 lunches a day, Monday through Friday, with meals available for curbside pickup or delivery via Snoqualmie Valley Transportation.  

These are full, hot meals provided on a donation basis; there is no requirement for participating seniors to pay. The program is intended to benefit seniors who might lack the funds, the physical ability, or the skills to cook themselves a meal.  

“And the seniors are so appreciative, they just love the home-cooked meals,“ said Executive Chef Joy Lund.  

Kingsbury-Comeau added, “Two weeks ago, Down to Earth donated gorgeous flowers to go with the lunches. And we’ve had new donors stepping forward to provide flowers each week. Easter lunches this week will feature Yankee pot roast, tiramisu, and Easter lilies.”  

To sign up for Meals to Go, call Mt. Si Senior Center at 425-888-3434 and dial extension 0.  

To feed the spirit, Center staff and volunteers are calling more than 400 senior households each week, checking in on the community members seen most frequently at the Center when it was open.  

The calls, Kingsbury-Comeau said are mainly social, and also provide the opportunity to find out if seniors have everything they need. When a need is identified, the Center works with other social services organizations to support the senior.  

The Center has been designated an essential service, as of Governor Inslee’s March 23 stay-home order to the entire state.