LAGUNA HILLS : Seniors Start Drive to Keep Center Open

More than 100 patrons of the Laguna Hills Senior Center staged their version o a pep rally Thursday to kick off a fund-raising campaign for the center, which is in danger of shutting down if officials there can’t find a way to pay the rent.

“Is this center going to close?” center manager Carol Tappero asked the enthusiastic crowd as they ate hot lunches of ham, vegetables and blueberry pie.

“No!” the group responded loudly, in unison.

“We’re all in this together and the Laguna Hills Senior Center will not close!” Tappero said to loud applause.

The center must continue to pay $6,400 a month in rent to stay in the shopping center where it leases space. Half of the rent money is provided by the Rossmoor Corp., which is planning to build a permanent facility for the center within two years.

The center, operating on a month-to-month lease, seeks to raise $36,000 through various fund-raising events to be able to commit to a one-year lease at the shopping center, said Marilyn Ditty, executive director of South County Senior Services, which runs 15 centers throughout Orange County.

“This center has been here for six years,” Ditty said. “The commitment to this area is very, very strong. We’re going to continue to work hard to continue to make this our home until we can build a permanent location across the street.”

But until the new center is completed, officials must find a way to make up for a $4,500-a-month donation from the Freedom Village Retirement Community in Lake Forest after the center’s five-year agreement with Freedom Village expires this month.

The planned fund-raisers include a chili feast at the center at noon on May 16, a Monte Carlo Night at the Rossmoor Regency Hotel in June, and a golf tournament in August that is expected to raise $10,000.

Last month, the seniors started a grass-roots effort to help pay the rent and came up with the $3,200 necessary to keep the center open an additional month. A committee of six center volunteers has been meeting each week to explore new fund-raising strategies.

Rossmoor Business Park Consultants has donated $9,000 to kick off the fund-raising campaign, and County Supervisor Thomas F. Riley has pledged to make a $1,500 donation from his community social fund.

In addition to serving hot lunches to local senior citizens, the center offers classes, activities and some medical and legal services, and delivers about 300 meals a day to homebound senior citizens, most of whom live in the nearby retirement community of Leisure World.