Island Senior: The Mullis Center Says Goodbye to 2019

In 2019 the Mullis Center Expanded the Lunch Program - Peggy Sue McRae photo

Island Senior is a reg­u­lar col­umn on the San Juan Update writ­ten by Peg­gy Sue McRae…

As the year 2019 comes to an end we San Juan Islanders can count our bless­ings. We live on a beau­ti­ful island and we have a senior cen­ter with much to offer.  This year the Mullis Cen­ter has seen some changes and some growth.

In Jan­u­ary, long time senior ser­vices man­ag­er, Wendy Stevens, retired. She was look­ing for­ward to trav­el and grand­chil­dren. Mean­while, the Mullis Cen­ter was plan­ning to expand the pop­u­lar lunch program.

In April, Meals on Wheels and More, the lunch pro­gram that pro­vides both a hot lunch and sal­ad bar at the Mullis Cen­ter as well as deliv­ered meals to those who can’t get out, went from Tues­days and Thurs­days to Mon­day, Wednes­day, and Fri­day, adding a third day. Senior Ser­vices Spe­cial­ist Deb­bie Haa­gensen tells me, “As of mid-Decem­ber, we have served 7,875 meals at the Mullis Cen­ter (dine-in and take­out) and deliv­ered 4,121 meals to home­bound clients for a total of 11,996 meals—and counting—for 2019!” 

The Mullis Center’s Pan­cake Break­fast fundrais­ers on the first Sun­day of each month are now ear­marked to sup­port the meals pro­gram. When chef Hobbes left, the Mullis Cen­ter hired a new head chef, Kate Stone new­ly returned to the island after an exten­sive sojourn in New Zealand. If you would like to see the month’s menus go to the San Juan Update and click on the Mullis Cen­ter ad. 

June saw the begin­ning of the Mullis Cen­ter Book Club mod­er­at­ed by librar­i­an Beth Hel­stien. We meet in the Mullis Cen­ter library on the sec­ond Mon­day of each month at 1:15pm. We will be dis­cussing this month’s book, Where’d You Go Bernadette? on Jan­u­ary 13. You are wel­come to join us.

Rob Ewers, Lynn Carlson, Dennis Busse, and the Nissan Leaf - Contributed photo

In July the Mullis Cen­ter pur­chased a Nis­san Leaf Plus elec­tric vehi­cle for meals on wheels deliv­ery. The cen­ter deliv­ers meals all over the Island so this elec­tric vehi­cle will save a lot of mon­ey on gas. Thanks to Stephen Shu­bert and Den­nis Busse for research­ing and arrang­ing the pur­chase of the vehicle.

Plen­ty of oth­er reg­u­lar activ­i­ties and class­es con­tin­ued. We will look at all of the exer­cise class­es at the Mullis Cen­ter in our next arti­cle. The annu­al Park­ing Lot Sale was a suc­cess even if it did get rained out a lit­tle ear­ly. Shim­ba vol­un­teers came to explain the mys­ter­ies of Medicare. (If you still need help its not too late: con­tact Pat Skyhawk).

The Annu­al Arti­san Craft Fair the week­end before Thanks­giv­ing fol­lowed by the Com­mu­ni­ty Thanks­giv­ing Din­ner brought the year to a fes­tive close and the Mullis Cen­ter now has an active web­site: The Mullis Cen­ter. There is not much on the new web­site yet but it does have a donate but­ton. Stay tuned as we move into the new year 2020.

Link to: The Mullis Cen­ter webpage

Link to: The Mullis Cen­ter Face­book Page

Link to: The San Juan Update (click on the Mullis Cen­ter ad for this month’s lunch menus)

You can support the San Juan Update by doing business with our loyal advertisers, and by making a one-time contribution or a recurring donation.