Lowe's helps upgrade ML Senior Center

MOSES LAKE - Moses Lake Senior Center officials got a couple of improvement projects knocked off their "to-do" list thanks to a group of Lowe's Home Improvement volunteers.

Senior Center General Manager Carry Liles said a handful of Lowe's employees and their families spent a couple of days this month working on various projects around the center.

They installed a new roll-up kitchen window in the senior center's meeting room, an electric door on one of the building's entrances and a second door just inside the building, she said. The projects were all tasks Liles had been wanting to get done, but couldn't because of a lack of funding.

Liles said she saw the chance to get one of the projects taken care of when Lowe's approached her earlier this year and asked if there was anything they needed done around the center.

"We told them there were three projects we had on our list, and to pick one," she said. "We said they were all important projects so whichever one they could do would be very much appreciated."

However, much to Liles' surprise, Lowe's decided to take care of all three projects.

"They did it all, we thought they were going to do one project, but they did it all," she said.

Liles said the center can better accommodate their patrons now that the projects are complete.

The new roll-up window benefits those who use the center's Birch Room, she said. Various groups hold lunch meetings in that room and it's also where visitors play Bingo and do other activities. Before the roll-up window, people had to get up and walk back to the main dining area to get their food or drinks.

"It's an inconvenience and it's not easy for people who use walkers or are in wheelchairs," she said.

Lowe's volunteers opened up the wall to the kitchen and put in the roll-up window so kitchen staff can also serve people in the Birch room. Liles said they used it for the first time this week, during a regularly scheduled lunchtime meeting.

"People just walked up to this window for their food instead of having to go all the way to the other side," she said.

Volunteers also put in an a fully-automatic electric door at the center. Now, patrons in wheel chairs or walkers won't have to struggle to open the door, she said.

"People in walkers or wheel chairs, all they have to do is put their hand in front of the door and it opens and closes on its own."

Liles said the door should be operational soon, as an electrician is coming in to power it up.

There is also a second door inside the main entryway now to prevent gusts of cold air from reaching those who are eating or doing other things.

"When the main door gets opened, people right inside the dining area just get a gust of wind," she said. "Now that second door prevents that from happening."

Liles said she is thankful Lowe's made the improvements to the building.

"We serve a lot of seniors every day," she said. "Thanks to Lowe's we've solved three problems and now we're set up to better accommodate every senior that walks in."