By: Ryan Duey
Photo Courtesy of Ryan Duey
The Clay County Task Force recently held its 2025 Annual Meeting at the Clay County Museum. Donna Lenhart, Board President, started off the meeting speaking to Board members and guests about the new Senior Center that will be built inside the Multi-Generational Life Center, set to open by September of 2026.
Lenhart said the Life Center is now fully funded thanks to the matching grant.
“We have a Senior Center and a brand new Commercial Kitchen being built, and it is fully funded.”
The Life Center fundraising came with tremendous success because not only was the additional $500,000 raised, but it was matched with the matching funds.
“We now know all the money needed is going to be there to get the Senior Center built and looking good.”
The funding ensures the Senior Center and Commercial Kitchen will be in place, offering a place for Seniors to meet, along with giving the Task Force a dedicated place to prepare Friendship meals.
The next step in the process is designing and furnishing the area. A committee has been established for planning. Lenhart is also working with a partner from Grow Clay County to create a survey for area seniors.
“I’ve talked with Grow Clay County and Alessia Carrales, who is an intern there.”
“Alessia is going to help us put together the survey that we’ve been talking about, wanting to get out to the people.”
“We will then have the Area Agency on Aging mail out the surveys to all the seniors in Clay County.”
They are hoping to have the surveys ready to go out by the beginning of next year. Lenhart said that with the new Senior Center, more volunteer help will be needed.
Thanks to community partners and businesses, seniors will once again have a dedicated place to gather and be proud of.
Clay County General Transportation Director Don Wright also spoke to members and guests about ridership in 2025 and looked ahead to 2026 and beyond.
Transportation ridership is up by approximately 18% from 2024. They also recently completed their tri-annual audit. The audit went very well, with only a couple of easily fixed discrepancies. Wright said they also worked on cost-cutting initiatives through 2025.
“Last year, we started a slew of cost-cutting initiatives. We’ve moved buildings, we rebuilt our storage areas, and used the new ones that are provided. We remodeled the new building, and we automated the entire office.”
“We also cut our insurance costs and retooled our vehicle fleet. We have gotten rid of most of the large vans and switched to minivans.”
“We’ll have to wait on KDOT to get us one more van to complete that initiative. Then we will be 100% complete with all the things we wanted to do.”
As Transportation looks ahead to 2026 and beyond, it sees a budget shortfall. They are currently working on a grant from KDOT, along with the grant, the City of Clay Center voted to give $7,500 for 2026. While local partnerships have greatly helped with costs, transportation still needs support from the community.
“We’re going to have a 2027 shortfall that we will need to address. This year is a manageable shortfall, but next year, it will not be.
“We will need to take small bites out of this shortfall, because we can’t eat this elephant all at once, but we can eat a little bit at a time.”
“It will take all of us collectively to get the word out. Because if we don’t, then this program may not be around in the future.”
Wright emphasized that without public support, this vital service for many seniors, veterans, and community members may not exist in the future. To learn more about CCGPT and how you can help, visit their new office during open business hours.
As 2026 nears, the Task Force and Public Transportation are working on ideas for fundraising initiatives so they can continue to support the many citizens of the community and the surrounding area for years to come.
