Wenatchee Valley Senior Activity Center to break ground on building expansion

WENATCHEE - The Wenatchee Valley Senior Activity Center is set to hold a groundbreaking ceremony and ribbon cutting for their building expansion and capital improvement project on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, at 1 p.m. The ceremony will take place in the rear parking lot of the senior center, located at 1312 Maple Street in Wenatchee, and the public and media are invited to attend.

The senior center's primary source of income, the Second Chance Thrift Shop, has experienced rapid growth over the past five years, resulting in the thrift shop occupying nearly half of the building's space originally intended for senior activities. Simultaneously, the senior center's membership continues to grow rapidly, with an expected 50 percent increase by the end of 2025.

"We are thrilled that our thrift shop has performed so well and are proud to say that our private nonprofit organization is able to self-fund the majority of our budget," said Dave Tosch, executive director. "However, the growth of our thrift shop has come at the cost of using much of our facility to support thrift shop operations. We need more space to support our growing senior community, and we need a dedicated retail space to support the thrift shop."

Since the senior center already owns its existing building and property outright, the most cost-effective and logical solution is to expand the building. The senior center is fundraising locally to procure $400,000 in seed money toward a total estimated budget of $4 million needed for the expansion and renovation of the existing facility. Additional funds to meet the capital improvement project budget will be raised through private, state, and federal grants.

"We are confident we can reach our fundraising goals, begin construction in the summer of 2025, and open our new thrift store space early in 2026," said Tosch. "Completing renovations for the rest of our building will take a bit longer. We hope to have our entire capital improvement project completed by the end of 2026."