Senior millage passage helps, but local needs continue to grow

Meridian Township resident Jean McDonald started attending the Meridian Senior Center last year.

“I really enjoy the fun things, like going to play euchre or different games. I also go regularly to the massage class. It’s wonderful,” McDonald said.

The program is in Okemos’ Chippewa Middle School, 4000 Okemos Road. However, the school is set to be demolished by 2026. The Meridian Township Board discussed moving the center to the former Younkers Department Store in the Meridian Mall this summer. But after seniors like McDonald voiced their opposition, the board voted 5-2 last Thursday to keep a millage proposal to raise funds for that project off the November ballot.

McDonald, 82, loves the community the center provides, but she has concerns that the mall isn’t an appropriate location. She also believes that she and her peers could use more space — in particular, a gymnasium.

The former Sexton High School teacher is one of at least 52,000, or about 23%, of Ingham County residents over 60 — a growing demographic that’s led to an increased need for senior services. As the population ages, the pressure is on community leaders and political representatives to find ways to meet that demand.

Millage proposals are one way in which Greater Lansing communities have done so. In the Aug. 6 primary election, 80% of Ingham County voters approved a four-year renewal of the 2020 elder persons millage that collects $0.30 cents per $1,000 of state taxable valuation “to support the growing population of persons age sixty.” It’s expected to raise $2.9 million in its first calendar year.

Casey Cooper, assistant director of the Tri-County Office on Aging, said the millage renewal will go a long way in providing critical services like Meals on Wheels, which delivers food to needy seniors, as well as home health care and support for senior centers. However, she also noted that the need for these programs goes well beyond the county’s borders.

“There is no wait list for Meals on Wheels in Ingham County because they’re able to use some of those millage funds. But we do have a wait list in Eaton County,” Cooper said, adding that Greater Lansing’s rural residents are “especially underserved.”

“I think senior centers are one of the ways that we can get links in those communities. There’s a natural partnership there, and so we’ve been working on that with senior center directors in the area,” Cooper said.

Two of Ingham County’s most rural communities, Williamston and Stockbridge, have paved a path forward. The Stockbridge Area Senior Center opened in a renovated fire hall in 2022, while the Williamston Area Senior Center has been around for 32 years.

In the primary, 81% of Williamston voters passed a similar millage proposal that will draw $0.2475 per $1,000 of taxable property value over the next four years to bolster their senior center. The funds will support the program’s move from its current 1,400-square-foot space at the Commons of Williamston shopping mall to an 8,500-square-foot facility at the former Merindorf Meats, 500 Williamston Center Road, by the end of the year. 

“This has been a long process over seven years,” said Julie Rudd, the center’s director, “but it finally worked out for us. It sits on several acres, and it’s going to be a really nice facility when we’re done.”

Rudd has seen the effects of an aging population firsthand. She cited an April report from the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments that noted that there will be more older adults in southeast Michigan than children by 2026. By 2034, the phenomenon will likely be true for the entire country.

“When people ask me how many members we have, it’s always a struggle for me to say, because I can’t market to get more people in here when I don’t have a space that could even accommodate them,” Rudd said, adding that the expansion will mitigate the issue.

“The statistics are just astounding,” she added. “We need to prepare and change for this because it’s just going to continue to increase.”

For Rudd, senior centers are particularly crucial for preventing social isolation, a health concern that she said has disproportionately affected seniors since the pandemic.

“It’s important that seniors are keeping not just their physical body active, but also their minds. They may have family members that are spread out all across the country, but they can come here and find their own little community,” Rudd said. 

Alesha Williams, director of East Lansing’s Prime Time Seniors Program, agreed, noting that it’s “important that we talk about something that’s inevitable for all of us.”

“As we age and we’re no longer working and engaging in social actions as a part of our lives, social isolation is very easy to slip into and an easy habit to maintain once you do,” Williams said.

Williams has also seen a stark increase in demand for Prime Time’s services, which include exercise and art classes, social gatherings, health fairs and more. She’s working on developing an upcoming resident survey which she’ll use to design new programs.

“Our numbers are elevating to pre-COVID levels very quickly,” Williams said, adding that Prime Time typically served about 800 residents per year before the pandemic and are now at pace for more than 700.

Nearby in Okemos, McDonald hopes to see more transparency from Meridian Township trustees as they debate the future of their own senior center.

“All the Jazzercize, exercise and massage classes are still totally filled, and people want more space, including a gym,” she said. “I don’t want to ruin this for us by voicing my concerns, I just want the space and the time that we need and for the township to be honest about what they’re planning.”

— TYLER SCHNEIDER