The Kemnitz Center for Active Adults in Niles will shut its doors at the end of this year, marking nearly a year and a half in operation as an alternative senior center in the area, representatives of the organization confirmed.
Ken Butterly, chairman of the board for Senior Services Inc., the nonprofit organization that owns and operates the Kemnitz Center, said the group has been unable to secure the financing needed to keep the center up and running beyond Dec. 31.
“It’s been a great run,” he said.
The center first opened last September with an official debut in January of this year in the north wing of the former Our Lady of Ransom’s school, 8350 N. Greenwood Ave. Butterly said the center boasts a membership of about 250, which includes residents aged 55 to 90 from Niles, Park Ridge, Des Plaines, Rosemont and Chicago.
“We broke a barrier in the region, which was basically, if you didn’t live here you couldn’t belong (to the municipality’s senior center),” he said.
Butterly said other senior centers in the area have since followed suit, opening their doors to residents outside their city or village borders.
Margaret Holler, manager of marketing and public relations for the Park Ridge Park District, said the district’s Centennial Activity Center, formerly known as the Park Ridge Senior Center, welcomes members from outside the city. She said membership rates for Park Ridge residents and non-residents differ.
The park district’s superintendent for recreation, April Armer, said any Kemnitz Center members are welcome to become a member of the district’s Seniors Together at Recreation (STAR) program.
The roots of the Kemnitz Center date back to Senior Services Inc.’s relationship with the Park Ridge Park District, Armer said. She said SSI previously served as the fundraising branch for the district’s senior center.
The agreement between the two agencies expired in 2010, she said, and a legal dispute over a $300,000 bequest to the Park Ridge Senior Center from Niles resident Betty Kemnitz, the center’s namesake, followed.
SSI eventually prevailed, she said. Butterly said Kemnitz’s bequest was been used to fund programming for the Kemnitz Center and renovations to the north wing of the Our Lady of Ransom school.
Butterly praised the work the Kemnitz Center’s director, Carla Owen, accomplished, given the organization’s limited budget, before she left the position last month.
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“That you can have a senior center and make it operate and you don’t have to go ahead and spend gobs of money, to me, if there is a positive, that is the positive out of this,” Butterly said.
He also commended the center’s volunteers, including the Senior Senate, a few dozen elected members who Butterly said have guided the vision and direction of the Kemnitz Center during its short time in operation.
“This was senior-driven,” he said. “That’s what we always wanted.”
The Kemnitz Center’s online calendar includes a list of activities ranging from luncheons to bingo to computer, art, dance and tai chi classes.
Butterly said the center plans to continue operating in full force through the end of this year.
“Let’s press on and have a good time until the last day,” he said. “And that’s what we’re going to do.”
Lee V. Gaines is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.