Gardner senior center reports $300,000 in volunteer value, expands evening services and board membership

Summary

At a Gardner Council on Aging meeting, a staff speaker summarized FY24 senior-center activity — including volunteer hours the speaker estimated at roughly $300,000 in value, farmers-market coupon distributions, recycling and shredding events, new evening Medicare classes, and a city change that makes the council a 13-member official board.

At a recent Gardner Council on Aging meeting, Michael, a staff member at the senior center, detailed fiscal-year 2024 programs and volunteer activity and described changes to the council’s membership structure. He told the council the center distributed $5,000 in farmers-market coupons this year (compared with $11,000 the previous year), ran six evening Medicare “101” sessions and recorded an estimated 957 volunteers during FY24.

Michael said the center’s volunteers — who work at events such as Thanksgiving and Christmas meal distribution, the ukulele and drum classes, and other programming — represent significant in-kind value. "At minimum wage, it's about $300,000 of value to the city of Gardner," he said, adding that professional volunteers (he named lawyers and advisers) would make the figure an…

Gardner senior center reports $300,000 in volunteer value, expands evening services and board membership

Summary

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