The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

With the awards of money just announced by the Lippard-Clawiter Foundation for 2015, "the Mountaineer" decided to look at one small but vital segment of our society and how they would fare without those funds and how they are doing generally.

We looked at the Big Sandy Senior Citizen's Center. Center Director Linda Rutledge stopped in last week and talked about funding the Center here in Big Sandy.

All the Senior Citizen's Centers in Chouteau County are funded by County taxes. That money is divided between Highwood, Big Sandy, Fort Benton and Geraldine.

"That money stays the same or is a little better each year," said Rutledge. "The funding is also based on how many people you serve."

The more you serve over 60 years of age, the more money comes your way.

Here is the problem.

There are more people over 60 than ever before in most every county and yet those people, call them baby boomers, do not want to sign up to be Senior Citizens. Maybe it is the stigma of being called a Senior. Maybe it is that more people are cooking at home but the fact is that according to Rutledge, more people are passing on and there are not people to replace them so Senior Citizen numbers are going down. That is not just true in Big Sandy but it is a trend seen nationwide.

"Being elderly is a difficult concept for some to realize. Having people make your meals and even deliver them to you are all pointers of getting older," Rutledge added. "Many baby boomers are not ready to be senior citizens yet."

Again, that is not just in Chouteau County but all over the country.

Shocking to hear about the Senior Citizen's Center in Big Sandy is that they have more clients under 60 than over 60. There are many Big Sandy workers each day who order lunches to go. That has helped to keep the Center open as well.

Rotary helps too. They give money to the Senior Citizen's Center and Rutledge says they could not possibly stay open without the help of Big Sandy residents who contribute a lot of meat, produce and money to keep the doors open.

There is a silver lining here in Chouteau County that is not available anywhere else. That is the Lippard-Clawiter Foundation that supports the Big Sandy Senior Citizen's Center annually with infrastructure needs.

This year they supplied $7500.00 for a new dining room floor. In the past Lippard-Clawiter has supplied a new stove, new refrigerator, new freezers, new dishwasher; all items that the Center could not buy themselves.

Rutledge said, "If it wasn't for Lippard-Clawiter we wouldn't have freezers, a stove, that kind of stuff and we would not be able to do much about cooking meals here."

It isn't as if the Center doesn't fundraise themselves as well.

"Our biggest fundraiser is the County Christmas. That brings in a lot of money and Rotary helps us because they meet here every Monday, added Rutledge. "We do as much fundraising as we can. Every Senior Citizen's Center does that but it takes more than we would ever be able to raise with just fundraising. You can only make so many dinners for fundraisers."

Rutledge knows that if it wasn't for the Lippard-Clawiter Foundation, all the Senior Citizen's Centers in Chouteau County would be facing much worse problems.

It takes a lot. In Big Sandy it takes taxes, the community, fundraisers, Rotary and Lippard-Clawiter to keep the doors open and the hot things hot and the cold things cold at the Senior Citizen's Center.