Outage Map
Once Facing the Unknown, Redmond Senior Center Is on the Road to Success
Story and photos by Brent ten Pas
Redmond Senior Center celebrated its 75th anniversary in September. It was a lofty milestone for a nonprofit that faced the prospect of permanently closing its doors a few years ago.
Founded in 1949, the center at 325 Dogwood St. serves as a home away from home for seniors. It provides meals, activities, fitness classes, education, and social events for those in search of belonging, and social connections, and improving overall mental and physical well-being during their golden years.
In 2019, however, the RSC was on life support.
Jo Anne Sutherland, an energetic 90-year-old whose dedication to the center dates back decades, tells a story of playing bridge with her peers. During the game, the staff informed those present that the center faced closure due to a lack of funds.
Hearing the news, Jo Anne got up from the table, marched to the office down the hall, and said, “You’re going to close? Give me your budget.”
“Well, they didn’t have 1,” Jo Anne says. “They had a board doing bake sales and had no idea how to put together an operating budget. So, I said, ‘When’s your next board meeting? May I come?’”
Joining the board in 2020, Jo Anne immediately applied her budget-building experience from years as city manager for Redmond, Madras, and La Pine to put RSC on an improved financial footing.
Instead of bake sales, Jo Anne and her colleagues focused on building a steady, reliable stream of donations from local donors, volunteer organizations, and businesses. Central Electric Cooperative has donated annually since 2020 and participates in the Sponsor a Year of Meals program.
If the financial challenges weren’t daunting enough, the COVID-19 pandemic complicated matters further. Forced to close its doors, members—many without meals—had nowhere to go.
During the pandemic, the center implemented virtual programs to maintain social connections with its membership and continued to run its Meals on Wheels program, relying heavily on volunteer drivers.
Available to homebound seniors older than 60 and determined eligible by a Council on Aging caseworker, RSC volunteer drivers scattered throughout the community to deliver healthy meals while allowing seniors to connect with someone from the outside world.
Under New Management
Hiring professional staff proved a turning point, breathing new life into an organization devoid of vision and stability. Having run through 3 managers in 18 months, the center found a new leader in Randy Graves, who pledged a 5 to 7-year commitment during the interview process.
No stranger to the nonprofit world, Randy primarily worked for Boys and Girls Clubs in Portland and Lebanon. A visit to the yet-to-be-developed Eagle Crest in 1984 brought Randy and his wife, Vicki, to the area.
“My wife said, ‘If they’re really going to do all this (develop Eagle Crest), wouldn’t it be a great place to retire?’ Well, in 2021, my wife accepted early retirement. We sold our home, cars, and furniture and bought a 2-bedroom condo at Eagle Crest.”
After the move to Central Oregon, Randy fulfilled a commitment as executive director with a nonprofit in Vancouver, Washington, before working at various organizations in Redmond and landing in 2023 at Redmond Senior Center.
Upon being hired, Randy informed the board of directors it would take approximately a year to stabilize things. His priority focused on developing personal relationships with everyone.
When asked which office he wanted, Randy said, “The 1 that faces the front door so I can see everybody that comes in. We’re going to greet every person within the first 5 seconds that they walk in the door."
Randy immersed himself in the community outside the center’s doors, attending social organization meetings, visiting businesses, and interfacing with local government officials, which has paid social and financial dividends.
“Right now, we probably have about 4 months’ worth of funding, whereas when I was first hired, we barely had 2,” he says. “We are becoming more visible. A lot of it’s about your relationships with folks, and I’ve had numerous conversations with people who can help contribute.”
A critical component of Randy’s blueprint for success is hiring professional staff with diverse talents.
“I’ve expressed to them none of us is greater than the other,” he says. “We all have talents, and if you stay in your lane, I’ll be able to expand the fund development side of things.
“They’re amazing. I mean, when I talk about them in the board meeting, I get choked up.”
Filling board vacancies was another priority. Randy rounded out the board and focused on candidates with diverse backgrounds to complement the board’s collective efforts.
“You want to add people who are visible in our community, and the board members we had when I was hired were all in,” he says. “I mean, they loved the senior center and didn’t want it to fail.”
And fail, it has not. The board, staff, and volunteers are fulfilling Randy’s vision with their efforts. In September, staff planned and executed a 2-day celebration of the organization’s 75th anniversary. More than 500 people attended, including local dignitaries who spoke about the center’s value and importance in the community. The event generated nearly $10,000—a significant improvement over bake sales held in years past.
The Redmond Senior Center’s future looks bright, with its leadership and professional staff focused on prioritizing community and volunteer engagement, fundraising, organization, and fulfilling seniors’ wishes with multiple programs dedicated to health and well-being, social events, activities and providing meals—all served with a personal touch.
On any given weekday, visitors can find parking scarce and hear echoes of voices and music drifting from various rooms. Activities abound throughout the facility, and seniors gather to enjoy lunch and talk. All this suggests RSC’s doors will remain open for years to come.