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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 undercount.
The senior-center report also listed program-specific results and community services: the center collected 3.16 tons of paper at a shredding/recycling event, organized a large electronics collection, and distributed farmers-market coupons intended to increase seniors’ access to fresh produce. Michael also described one fraud-and-scams assistance case in which "one individual" regained about $12,000 he said had been wrongfully withheld from Social Security.
Why it matters: the report framed the senior center as a mix of social and material assistance — not just recreation — and emphasized outreach to households that cannot attend daytime services.
Michael told the council there are 5,571 residents in Gardner age 60 or older. He said that number "does not include" people aged 50 to 60 and that a broader count might be "closer to 8,000, 9,000," but he did not provide a precise total for the 50–60 age group. To reach working adults who cannot attend daytime sessions, the center is offering evening Medicare counseling and outreach; Michael said the center now runs six evening Medicare 101 programs.
The speaker also thanked volunteers and community partners such as AARP (he referenced "AARP, chapter 3237") and said the center received additional grant funding of $5,700 to support arts and musical programming, naming ukulele sing-alongs and classes as recent examples. He praised the Community Action/CAC volunteer support for food preparation at immigrant-response events; he said meals served in FY24 included assistance to 134 Haitian families, two American families and one Russian family.
Board structure change and next steps: Michael said the city council revised how the Gardner Council on Aging is constituted. "We are now a 13-member official board," he said, describing a shift away from a previously staggered, member-appointed setup. He said he is working with the mayor on restructuring and expected recommendations on board composition within about 30 days, with an update by the October meeting.
Relocation planning: council members and staff referenced an upcoming presentation by the mayor on timetables; Michael said staff will wait for that presentation and then develop a plan for any eventual relocation, noting they are not at that stage yet.
Adjournment: the meeting closed with a motion for adjournment that was seconded and carried.
The council scheduled its next meeting for Oct. 6 at 2 p.m., the meeting record shows.
