Residents in Vaughn and Little River may soon see needs involving senior centers in their community be addressed by the Baldwin County Commission, following a discussion amongst commissioners during the March 26 work session.
Delegations from both communities were present for the work session and impressed upon the commissioners what having the centers open would mean to their residents.
The S.A.I.L. Center in Vaughn has been closed for some time, as the county discussed the best way for the center to remain operational. For Little River, the community has had no firm location for a center and had requested the county’s help in making their center a reality.
Baldwin County Commissioner Jeb Ball said he has worked with both groups for some time trying to find a way to help those communities.
“We’ve all been able to meet and talk about realistic ways that the community and the county can partner on these centers,” Ball said. “For Vaughn, it’s finding ways to have community leaders there step up and help run the facility in a way to get more community involvement and buy in. For Little River, it’s about finding a way to give them a site location to simply have a center.”
Members of the Vaughn community said they have worked to put together a board to help run the center and are in the process of forming a 501c3 organization in order to be able to process funding.
The commission will continue to provide the building, insurance and electricity costs for the Vaughn Center even after the community takeover.
For Little River, community members have already come together to form a board and filed paperwork for their 501c3, as well as working with the county to purchase land for the center’s site.
“They’re good to go,” Commission Chairman Skip Gruber said. “They just need a place to do it.”
