LUCERNE, Calif. – Without Executive Director Rae Eby-Carl and a few people she calls “a wonderful cadre of volunteers,” the Lucerne Alpine Senior Center might no longer exist.
And that would have catastrophic effects on the county’s nutrition. How would you go about replacing the more than 27,000 meals provided by the center on-site and delivered to the less ambulant this year?
“Lake County has always been a delightfully involved population,” said Eby-Carl. “From the time I arrived here 35 years ago, one of the things that impressed me the most is how people go out and do things, especially for seniors and people in schools.”
She added, “The other thing I think is unique about the county is the cooperation between agencies and programs.”
Eby-Carl – now in her 18th month at the center – had retired in January 2012 after serving as a senior director at Lake Family Resource Center. Then the leadership spot at the center became available.
“I heard about the problem they were having here and I thought I would spend a year helping them get their systems in place,” she said.
Eby-Carl took over as executive director in March 2013, a month after the Area Agency on Aging of Lake and Mendocino Counties Board of Directors voted unanimously to terminate the center’s $66,000 annual contract because a state auditor concluded that its nutritional program was “high risk.”
She immediately began addressing the faults found with the center's program and in April 2013 – following a successful inspection – the Area Agency on Aging Board voted to rescind the contract termination.
Another ongoing challenge for the center over the last decade was a funding shortfall of about $168,000 that past directors and boards alleged was the result of an embezzlement in 2005.
However, a criminal case failed to get to trial due to the death of the lead investigator and the matter eventually was dismissed.
For eight years after the money was reported to have disappeared there was a crippling effect on the center.
Executive directors came and went and board members were appointed and resigned, frustrated in their efforts to stabilize the ailing facility.
Eby-Carl was a good fit for a bad situation at the Lucerne Alpine Senior Center, in part, because she’d been through something similar at another nonprofit where embezzlement occurred.
She served as interim executive director of AWARE – “Abused Women: A Recovery Environment” – which offered services and shelter to women who were victims of domestic violence. AWARE later would be disbanded and closed.
Eby-Carl helped the California Attorney General's Office in its case against the organization's previous executive director, who misappropriated funds.
“She got convicted, but she never served a day (in prison),” said Eby-Carl.
Creating new systems and safeguards
Eby-Carl also succeeded at the Lucerne Alpine Senior Center where her predecessors didn’t by implementing systems to monitor how purchases were made, taxes were paid and services were rendered.
“There were taxes that hadn’t been paid that we made sure got paid and two claims on the books from past employees who weren’t paid for their retirement. And we’ll soon be in a position to pay them as well,” said Eby-Carl.
“What I had to do was put systems in place that would monitor how we purchased, taxes were paid, and that they had nutritious meals and inspections were done regularly,“ she added.
To prevent a recurrence of money issues for the Lucerne Alpine Senior Center, Eby-Carl also made contractual arrangements for the Lake Family Resource Center to handle the center's funds.
“That way the new director will never handle cash,” Eby-Carl added, “and it’s in place to ensure that money is handled properly. So now we’re on a monitoring system just like any other senior center in the county. “
Another change was in the way purchases are made.
“When I came here the chair of the board was doing all the purchasing,” said Eby-Carl. “The first thing I thought we needed was to have vendors and I arranged that. We have vendors for delivery every week on a cash-as-you-go basis. We partner with other agencies such as People Services and they do three-quarters of our deliveries.”
The payroll at the center is not much of an expense or an issue.
In addition to Eby-Carl, whose contract calls for 24 hours a week, there are only three others on the payroll, two of them cooks. The other is Eby-Carl’s secretary, who works 25 hours a week. Even a large share of mopping up after meals is done by volunteers.
The senior center's headquarters, located at 3985 Country Club Drive, began life as a fourth through eighth grade school in 1932.
Despite the age of the center's headquarters building, it has been brought up to par in cleanliness.
“I would put our standards up next to anybody,” Eby-Carl said.
The need to raise funds
Another change is that, during Eby-Carl’s 18 months and partly before she came to the center, the entire Lucerne Alpine Senior Center's Board of Directors has been replaced.
“They were recruiting new board members before I came on board, but if there’s anybody out there who wants to help the center they can be on our board,” she said.
The new directors are being trained in fundraising, a critical component of the center's activities.
The center's annual budget is $192,280. Eby-Carl said that about $140,000 of that comes from the center’s thrift store.
“The other $60,000 we have to raise from the community and it comes from fundraisers and donations,” Eby-Carl said. “Some people just straight donate,” but that $60,000 has to be raised every year.
The center has been holding regular fundraisers and community events. Every third Saturday the center hosts its “Open Mic Lucerne” event.
“We have small children performing for people in their 80s,” said Eby-Carl. “Every third Wednesday we have people come and do a potluck. On the second Tuesday of every month we have a songwriters and poetry gathering.”
Much of the funding goes to “Meals on Wheels,” which supplies nearly 23,000 meals annually to people from Lucerne to the western county line.
The main service provided at the Lucerne Alpine Senior Center is a Monday through Friday lunch, consisting of soup, salad, an entrée, side dishes, dessert and a drink. The cost for people over 55 years of age is $4. For those under 55 years the same meal is provided for $5.
Breakfast is not provided. “It has not been done for a long time because we were losing money on it,” Eby-Carl explained. “One of the first things I had to do was plug losses.”
If the center was doing something that wasn’t making a profit and was draining the resources, that service was ended, she said.
However, the senior center continues to operate a pantry, which is stocked by donations of goods from the community and no funding.
“Performance-wise we’ve shined,” Eby-Carl added. “We started below the water, but stayed afloat with regular donations. Many of the people (who eat at the center) can’t afford to pay, but nobody goes hungry; we feed them whether they are able to pay or not.”
The Lucerne Alpine Senior Center, 3985 Country Club Drive, can be reached at telephone 707-274-8779 or through its Web site at http://www.lucernealpineseniorcenter.com .
Email John Lindblom at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
