Senior Center Director Shares Locals’ Concerns With Legislators
By Rodger Nichols
Rob Garrett doesn’t just go the extra mile for the Mid-Columbia Senior Center. On 1 memorable occasion in May, he went thousands of miles to Washington, D.C.
As MCSC’s executive director, Rob received a grant from the National Center on Aging to attend a convention in Alexandria, Virginia.
He could have just focused on the convention, but when NCOA offered the invitation, he saw this as a golden opportunity to connect with federal decision-makers.
“I spoke with staff members of Sen. Merkley, Sen. Wyden, and Representative Bentz,” he says. “They were more than willing to listen to our group from Oregon about issues such as SHIBA, Meals on Wheels, rural medical needs, Social Security, and other important concerns we have as seniors.”
SHIBA stands for Senior Health Insurance Benefits Assistance, a program that helps seniors navigate the sometimes complex decisions surrounding Medicare and other insurance plans.
Rob’s roots go deep in Wasco County. Though he was born in Redmond, his family lived in Shaniko, where his father worked out of an Oregon Department of Transportation office. When the office closed in 1968, the family moved around for several years, living in Prineville, Madras, Moro, and Dufur, finally settling in The Dalles in 1972, when his father was hired at the aluminum plant.
“I graduated from Wahtonka in 1982,” Rob says. “Married my high school sweetheart, Tawny, in 1983, and we have lived on Browns Creek now and have for over 30 years at this point. The Dalles is home.”
The Garretts raised 6 children there, with the youngest graduating from high school this year.
Rob says he remembers a time before the Senior Center was built in 1986.
“It was a pathway to work when I lived in my first apartment on Lincoln Street as a grown-up,” he says.
That work initially involved driving a bread truck. He later supervised the local distribution of Wonder Bread and other items from the Franz Bakery outlet in The Dalles.
That job came to an end after 35 years, when Rob developed rheumatoid arthritis. Ultimately, he had to have hip and ankle replacement surgeries.
A pivotal moment several years ago brought Rob to his current position. In 2021, then-MCSC Director Scott McKay announced he would retire at the end of the year.
“I had seen his retirement party on the reader board,” Rob says. “I’m sitting there on the couch with my foot in a boot. It’s snowing to beat the band outside, and I’m thinking the other guys that are doing my job are lying on the ground right now, putting on chains.”
He applied to be the senior center’s new director and turned down the board’s first offer as too low. The board then asked him to submit what he really needed to live on and support his family while they recalculated what the center could support.
“When compared, the 2 numbers were only $500 apart,” he says.
He’s been there ever since.
“I’ve really been blessed because I thought I was done,” he says. “I was 57 years old, and thought, ‘What am I going to do? I’m too young and too old, all in the same boat.’ This was the perfect place for me.”
Rob wasn’t new to the center. He led a 12-person rock band, The Pop Rocks, with members aged 17 to 58, that had performed at the center in the past.
He says the transition was a smooth one, with Scott showing him the ropes, answering questions, and leaving a strong foundation for him to build on.
1 of the strongest is the Meals on Wheels program, which is separate from the senior center but an integral part.
“We make sure Meals on Wheels works, because without Meals on Wheels, the senior center is not the senior center,” Rob says. “Their lease is money that we use for operating expenses to stay open. We need Meals on Wheels, and they need us.”
Though MCSC sometimes receives grants, it is not government-sponsored. It has stayed open for 39 years thanks to multiple funding streams, in addition to the Meals on Wheels lease.
“Bingo obviously is our big fundraiser,” Rob says. “We have bingo 2 nights a week. Thursday night’s bingo is for Meals on Wheels, and Saturday night’s is for the senior center.”
The center sells memberships for $35 a year. It also runs Nu-2-U Shop, a store that sells donated items for pennies on the dollar.
1 popular service is the rental of medical equipment. There is only a suggested donation of $10 for rental of a wheelchair, walker, crutch, cane, or other device.
“That is completely voluntary,” he says. “If you aren’t able to donate, we won’t charge you.”
MCSC rents spaces large and small to groups of all sorts, including the local gun club, which has a firing range in the basement.
“It’s not just seniors that use the building,” Rob says. “It really is a community building.”
A glance at just 1 month’s schedule features classes and programs such as painting, tai chi, literature, line dancing, tap dancing, genealogy, AARP driving, and twice-monthly sessions offering tech help with computers and other electronic gadgets.
The center also sponsors trips for seniors to various destinations around the state.
“It’s all happening at the center,” Rob says.