Our Staff
Pam Gnekow, Executive Director
Jim Nichols, Assist Director & Chef
Merrill Clayton, Senior Coordinator
Linda Litton, Volunteer Coordinator
Rosa Castillo
Gracie Love
Wanda Nelson
Our Board
David Lehman, President
Charles Anderson, Vice President
Bernice Small, Treasurer
Dianne Day, Secretary
Shirley Anderson
Pam Gnekow
Ron Huber
David Schwartz
Susan Schwartz
Our Vision
The Santa Ynez Valley Senior Citizens’ Foundation’s [Buellton Senior Center] vision is to meet the needs of seniors, as shown below, and others in Buellton, expanding into the nearby areas of the Santa Ynez Valley. The Buellton Senior Center especially seeks to recognize and meet the needs of those who are homebound and have no family to care for them.
FOOD
- Nutrition – feeding seniors 7 days per week.
SOCIAL
- Recreation – Getting together for social activities, and exercise.
- Sharing – talking with someone who cares. (For the love of one.)
- Service opportunities – Thrift store, volunteer opportunities to make lives more meaningful. Being able to give back to the community.
- Seniors make crafts at home.
- Protection – providing a secure environment for seniors, both at home and at the Center, with someone to call when help is needed.
TRANSPORTATION
- Bus passes and rides to needed places (like doctors).
- Medical – Getting to their doctor appointments, taking their medicines.
HOUSING
- Repairing homes for those who need it.
REFERRALS
- Utilities – Making sure their utilities get paid – CARE-PG&E discounts for utilities.
- Protecting their medicines, & disposing of their medicines.
- Finding housing for those without.
- Health care services – providing information about community health care services, especially to seniors.
- Counseling – Connecting seniors with legal, welfare, medical, and accounting professionals, and helping them fill out forms.
- Spiritual/religious needs – Connecting homebound seniors with spiritual- religious leaders in the community to meet their needs (e.g. Communion).
- Jobs – money – loans.
COMMUNICATION
- Acknowledgment – Birthdays, accomplishments & other.
- Health care services – providing information about community health care services, especially to seniors.
- Communication – To let seniors know what is going on , and a sense of community.
- To develop amongst the board, the staff and volunteers an understanding of what is.
- Presence – becoming a larger force in the community; the community becoming more aware of the presence and needs of seniors.