Left to right: Phil Markwardt, Executive Director of the Chugiak-Eagle River Senior Center; Wendy Luft, President of the Chugiak-Eagle River Senior Center Board of Directors; Representative Cathy Tilton, also from the Chugiak-Eagle River Board of Directors; Senator Shelley Hughes; Crystal Kennedy from the Municipality of Anchorage Assembly; and Kerry Jones, President of the Chugiak Senior Citizens Foundation.
Chugiak-Eagle River Senior Center (CERSC) accepted a $25,000 donation from the organization's Foundation fund at a presentation June 4, with organizational staff and local leaders in attendance.
"The Foundation's donation couldn't have come at a better time, especially with seniors facing hardships brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic," CERSC Operations Director Darren Adams wrote in a press statement. "We will be able to use this donation in a multitude of ways, including helping procure a much-needed Meals-On-Wheels vehicle so that we can keep up with the increased demand for this vital service that this pandemic has created; purchasing equipment that will enable our assisted living staff to safely lift and transfer our assisted living residents; and for the Good Sam fund, which is meant to assist struggling Chugiak-Eagle River Senior Center residents on a short-term basis with basic necessities such as monthly rent, medication copays, emergency medical supplies, therapeutic services and food costs, as these needs arise."
Began when the Chugiak Senior Center started in 1975, the Foundation "has worked earnestly to collect donations for the senior center, which in turn are invested, with the goal of building up a fund that will help sustain the senior center and its programs indefinitely," Adams wrote.
