Manchester Seniors Hold Visioning Session – Sketch Out Goals for 2016

MASSC’s “Senior Bus”. How to pay for this transportation, vital to Manchester’s seniors, was a topic addressed at the Senior Visioning Day.

For many years, the Manchester Area Senior Citizens Council (MASCC) have provided services to Manchester-area senior residents including group social activities and camaraderie, shared meals, transportation, and more. In the last few years, MASCC has been neither able to internally generate sufficient finances, nor find external funding to cover the cost of their activities. The greatest of these expenses is the cost of operating and maintaining the bus used to provide transportation to medical visits and around town to appointments.

To seek a solution, MASCC organized a “Visioning Day,” held at Emanuel Church Fellowship Hall on Saturday, January 30 from 8:30 am to 3 pm. Thirty people attended. In addition to MASCC members and its Board of Directors, the session included members of Kiwanis, Lions Club, the Civic Club, the Manchester Area Historical Society, the Manchester Wellness Coalition, the Manchester Village Council, and other Manchester residents. Input was also received from representatives of the Chelsea Senior Citizens and the county transportation organization W.A.V.E.

The Visioning Day was facilitated by Anita Herman. During the process, participants moved from envisioning the “perfect seniors program,” to sketching components of a sound mission statement. They identified the core values upon which decisions for the future will be made. This required participants to take a hard look at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities of the current seniors program as well as threats to the program before designing five strategic goals for the Board to implement in the coming year.

The timing of the event was critical, as shortly after the meeting MASCC elected members to fill vacancies on their board, including president and vice president, at their annual meeting on Wednesday, February 10. Bonnie Hertler was elected president and Dianne Schwab was elected vice-president and they are now charged with leading the Manchester Area Senior Citizens Council in carrying the new vision forward.

The mission going into the Visioning Session is summarized here: Proposed Visioning Day

The new board will be armed with strategic goals developed at the Visioning Day. These include creating a finance committee, improving communication, increasing membership and exploring transportation options:

• GOAL – FINANCE COMMITTEE
  By November 2016, the Finance Committee (Treasurer + 3 persons) will have developed a budget for 2017 to recommend to the Manchester Area Senior Citizen Council Board of Directors. The Committee will review 2015’s financial report, compare to 2016 for trends, use this as a baseline, identify current $ sources, identify potential $ sources, and design and develop other funding.
• GOAL – COMMUNICATION
  Increase communication and awareness within our local Manchester community by June 1, 2016. Increase dissemination of information by: (1) Speaker Bureau (person to groups) with 1st presentation by September, 2016; (2) website/Facebook created by September, 2016; (3) updated Trumpeter by June, 2016; (4) Intergenerational Activities by September, 2016; (5) Volunteer Coordinator by June, 2016.
• GOAL – MEMBERSHIP
  • Cultivate a bigger, more active membership by end of 2016 year.
  • Conduct a community survey the summer of 2016 asking “Why do you not come to the senior program?” and “How much are you willing to pay?” This will be implemented at the fair, Chicken Broil, churches, Farmers Market and in Village/township newsletters.
  • Create a fee structure based on feedback.
  • Define membership benefits.
  • Develop procedures to track membership.
  • By January, 2017 develop a membership drive, i.e., sign up in January and get a free lunch.
  • Work with communication committee to convey benefits of membership.
• GOAL – TRANSPORTATION
  • Create a transportation plan for the Manchester Area, responsive to local needs, by September 30, 2016.
  • Form transportation committee involving key stakeholders from the Manchester area.
  • Evaluate current service.
  • Identify needs using Manchester area input.
  • Research costs and funding (capital, operational, administrative) and explore options.
  • Make a recommendation to the MASCC Board.

For more information or to help out with this effort, please contact Dianne Schwab at 428-8976 or email at wjrdrs@sbcglobal.net.

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by Ray Berg