Cache Valley • The Cache County Senior Center overflowed with older adults during Wednesday’s lunchtime rush.
Maybe it was the mashed potatoes and roast beef being dished out, said patron Barbara Viator, who sat eating the hot meal with her friends.
Or, more likely, the Logan resident said, there’s simply more need than the 50-year-old facility can accommodate.
“We are bursting at the seams,” Viator said. “Sometimes we’re in a room trying to do a craft, and we’re packed in there. It would be wonderful to have a bigger place.”
The center’s director, Giselle Madrid, said a surge in guests to the Logan facility on 100 East — those seeking hot meals, social and recreational opportunities, and assistance with meal programs, health screenings, and federal health insurance guidance — has brought attention to the urgent need for a newer, larger building for these resources in the county.
With the county recently being awarded a state grant, Madrid said the area is on its way to getting one, but there still is a long way to go before the needs of the valley’s growing population of older people are met.
“A senior center is vital to all the stakeholders involved in our aging community,” she said. “The county and city must provide this service for the mental well-being, food insecurity, and social connections that many have.”
(Clarissa Casper | The Salt Lake Tribune) Cache Valley Senior Center visitors line dancing on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025.
Along with providing activities — everything from courses in tai chi, sewing and yoga to various clubs and line dancing — staff and volunteers at the facility supply thousands of free meals to those across Cache Valley who face food insecurity or a lack of resources to eat nutritious food each day. The center currently provides 15,000 square-feet of space for these activities, with one commercial kitchen, a cafeteria, an exercise room, a tiny library, small game and craft spaces and a ceramics room.
Both the limited spaces at the center — which often cannot accommodate multiple wheelchairs — and its aging kitchen appliances are struggling to keep up with the growing demand, said program coordinator Colby Christensen.
“I have a pit in my stomach about the eventuality that we’ll have to turn people away,” Christensen said. “That has become a concern with yoga because we ran out of armless chairs for them to practice in, and the space is full, and that class just kept growing.”
The importance of meals
(Clarissa Casper | The Salt Lake Tribune) A volunteer at the Cache County Senior Center loads meals to be delivered to homebound residents across the valley.
In 2020, more than 900 older Cache Valley residents registered at the center, a number that has since risen to more than 3,100 as of last month, according to Madrid. More than 400 of them use the center’s free lunch program. Last year, volunteers at the facility delivered more than 44,000 meals to nearly 500 people from Richmond to Wellsville — a 55% increase since 2021, she added.
Not only does this program keep residents fed, but it also provides them with a familiar, friendly face each day — their delivery driver — who, for many, is the only person they see. While the center’s chef, Shannon Ashby, prepares these meals, she tries to treat each plate with care, conscious of the fact that this might be the best part of someone’s day.
Ashby also sometimes joins in delivering meals, an activity that has compelled her to continue the work.
“For some people,” Ashby said, “it’s the only meal they get the whole day. It’s important to know that we have something available for those people. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have anything.”
But with limited storage space in the kitchen, Ashby worries whether the center can continue serving everyone in need. An ideal new facility would feature more accessible activity rooms, expanded gathering spaces — including offices for insurance assistance — and a much larger kitchen and meal pickup area to make the program more efficient, said Madrid, the center’s director.
Percentage of older Utahns expected to grow
(Clarissa Casper | The Salt Lake Tribune) Cache County Senior Center visitors participate in tai chi on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025.
An analysis from the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute notes Utah’s population continues to grow older because of declining fertility rates. This trend is expected to continue, the analysis found, with the state’s retirement-age population likely to be more than 20% of Utah’s total population by 2060, up from 12% in 2020.
“In reality, the center has deficits that have become more obvious,” Madrid said, “and change is needed as the center’s growth continues in the coming years.”
Cache County announced last month the state’s Community Impact Board awarded it a $25,000 grant to prepare a plan for a new senior center. The grant requires matching funds, resulting in $50,000 to be spent on the plan, the county said in a news release.
“Our seniors need and deserve a bigger and better facility,” Cache County Executive David Zook said in the release.
The county plans to hire a consultant with these funds to assist with planning, including determining the appropriate size and amenities to be offered, the statement said.
For now, visitors at the center are enjoying what the limited space does provide. As she has gotten older, patron Juna Harmony said she has found it important to her mental and physical health to stay active and social. She said she doesn’t know how she would do those things without the center, and that a bigger facility would help everyone.
“We have a good time and we laugh,” Harmony said. “You know, we might not have laughed today if we weren’t together.”
