County Council on Aging burns mortgage

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

The Van Wert County Council on Aging celebrated paying off its facility debt with a mortgage burning ceremony held Thursday morning at the Council’s Senior Center on Fox Road.

Council on Aging Executive Director Kevin Matthews welcomed those attending, which included former director Cindy Wood and current and former staff, as well as Board members, former Van Wert mayor Don Farmer and his wife, Nancy, and a number of senior citizens.

Matthews said that the Council on Aging purchased the current Senior Center and two adjacent buildings in November 2009 after it became evident that the Council’s former facility on East Crawford Street could no longer meet the increasing needs of the local senior citizens group.

Noting that when he worked for Starr Commonwealth, he used to bring Starr youths to the old facility for activities with the senior citizens, Matthews said the Crawford Street building “was in really bad shape. It just wasn’t fitted properly for people in wheelchairs,” he added.

Although the Council on Aging board had first considered building a new facility, the purchase of the current center saved the seniors organization approximately $250,000, Matthews noted.

During his presentation, the Council on Aging director thanked The Van Wert County Foundation for providing $150,000 since the mortgage was taken out to help pay it off. The mortgages originally totaled approximately $800,000.

“They’ve been a huge, huge, contributor,” Matthew said of the foundation, which was represented by Executive Secretary Seth Baker.

He also thanked the United Way of Van Wert County, which helps to fund transportation and other programs for those under age 60, and Van Wert Rotary Club, which has provided funding to purchase a new vehicle, as well as Rockford Construction, which held the mortgage and also has done work at the center, and Eaton Corporation, which has also donated funds for Council on Aging projects, such as the foyer renovation and the center’s current air-conditioning system.

Matthews said he was also grateful for a private donor who did not want to be identified that helped finance the purchase of an outbuilding behind the senior center and then forgave the $135,000 loan in his or her loan.

Following Matthew’s presentation, Council on Aging Board President Linda Frederick then burned the mortgage during a ceremony held outside the center.

Today, Matthew said, with more than a quarter of Van Wert County residents classified as senior citizens — and that figure increasing to 35 to 50 percent for some individual villages and townships — the Council on Aging facility plays an even bigger part in the lives of today’s seniors, with its transportation, entertainment, and food programs, Matthew noted.

“Having a nice building like this really has to help meet the needs of the people,” he said, adding that the approximately $20,000 a year the Council on Aging will no longer have to pay in mortgage payments can now be used to fund the organization’s programs. “It ([also] puts us in a good position if we want to expand.”