Ephrata Senior Center gets new wheels
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year, 7 months AGO
Kathy Anderson, left, manager of the Ephrata Senior Center, and Chelan Kleyn with the Paul Lauzier Foundation stand in front of the van that the foundation purchased for the center in January.
COURTESY PHOTO/EPHRATA SENIOR CENTER
Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | May 1, 2024 5:01 PM
EPHRATA — The Ephrata Senior Center will ride a little better now, thanks to a grant from the Paul Lauzier Foundation that bought the center a new van.
The van replaces a 14-passenger bus, said center Manager Kathy Anderson.
“It traveled so rough that nobody wanted to ride on it,” she said.
The new van will be used to deliver meals within the city limits, as well as picking up and dropping off members and occasional group trips, Anderson said. The van gets much better gas mileage than the old bus did, she said, which means the center can charge less for its services.
“We had to charge according to how many miles we were going,” she said. “Maybe one trip would be $7, maybe one trip would be $25, depending on where we were going. And so the board just came up with, if we’re within a 25-mile one-way trip, then we're not going to charge anything. And if we go further, we're going to charge $5 per person. So it's much cheaper for our members.”
The grant was approved in 2023, and the center picked up the van in January, Anderson said.
The Paul Lauzier Foundation awards grants for community development, youth programs, public health and safety, education and agriculture, according to its website, as well as college scholarships for Grant County students.
“We couldn’t have gotten (the van) without the Lauzier Foundation,” Anderson said.
ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
‘Our favorite time of year’
Shop with a Cop brings smiles to both children and officers
MOSES LAKE — The heavy police presence outside local stores recently wasn’t because of a crime wave. It was police officers engaging in their favorite annual event. “This is one of those times throughout the year that we don't have to go and ask for volunteers to help,” said Moses Lake Police Chief David Sands. “The first day we put it out, I think we got 20-some people say ‘Yeah, we’re in.’ That's just under half the department right away.“
BASIN EVENTS: Dec. 19-27
COLUMBIA BASIN — It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, and a lot of people will be spending time at home with their families or at the church of their choice. Still, there are a few things happening around the Basin. Here are some ideas:
Chimney maintenance is essential for safety
MOSES LAKE — With Christmas just around the corner, lots of folks are using their fireplaces for warmth, roasting chestnuts or just a pleasant atmosphere. But before Santa pays your chimney a visit, you should make sure it’s in good working order. Chimney fires are responsible for more than three-fourths of residential building heating fires, according to the U.S. Fire Administration. Regular inspections and cleaning are the best way to prevent that, said Michael Harper, known as The Chimney Guy. “If they’re using (the fireplace) aesthetically – date night, Christmas, New Year’s, show-off times, something in the background here and there, (they should) have it inspected once a year for peace of mind,” Harper said. “If they’re using it two to three days a week religiously through the winter months, they need to have it cleaned once a year.”