ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
Tanya Rivera has spent much of her life working with senior citizens, and now, she has another opportunity to work with them.
Rivera was recently hired as the new director at the Liberal Senior Center, replacing outgoing Director Randy Altman.
Rivera has a degree in social service, and prior to coming to the senior center, she spent years working with the SouthWest Kansas Area Agency on Aging, which oversees senior centers in the area. Rivera too had worked as a social worker at the Liberal Good Samaritan Society. She said working with the elderly has always been her passion.
“God told me to come here, and that’s why I’m here,” she said. “I’m only here because He put me here. I see a lot of potential we can do. It’s just getting there.”
Hired recently, Rivera has already hit the ground running with new projects at the senior center.
“We already have started a salad bar,” she said. “We have that open to everyone on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. That’s salad and soup. We will start our movie nights again. That’s getting ready to start up.”
An old favorite, painting classes are also back in the senior center, and Rivera said the center is for everyone, not just the elderly.
“I want everyone to come,” she said. “It should be everyone who wants to come. We’ve made a new quiet room where people can go in there and read, talk on the phone, or play on the computer.”
Also back at LSC are dances and parties, and Rivera said spaces at the center have been rearranged to accommodate these events. She added other activities, old and new, are in the works as well.
“We’ll have all of that here,” he said. “We’re going to build the dances up. We have a lady here who does alterations. She does different crafts. We’re going to start making noodles by the first of next month. We will be selling homemade noodles. We’ll have those through the holidays. We’re going to make Christmas items for the holidays. We’re going to make wreaths and crosses, and they’re going to be big ornaments.”
Also coming up for the holiday season, LSC patrons and workers will be doing jars of soups and cookies for Christmas gifts.
“All you have to do is add the liquid,” Rivera said. “We’re planning on doing that. Hopefully at the first of next year, we’re going to go out and do activities at different places. That’s our goal for January.”
Friendship Meals too are still part of what the senior center does, and Rivera said anyone of any age can come and eat the meals.
Rivera said she would like to see a significant uptick in the amount of people utilizing the senior center.
“I’d like to see a lot of people come in and just bombard me,” she said. “They have bridge. They have yoga exercise. I’d like to see those things expand. They play bridge. They play dominos, bingo on Friday.”
Bingo is a longtime favorite at the center, and Rivera said she would like to build up prizes for the game.
“I think that’s where we’re going to go next,” she said. “We’ve got a lot of things on our plate right now, but I think we can handle it. I’ve got a very good team. I’m very impressed by my team. We are a team. We all have to work together. My job is nothing without them.”
Rivera said she feels LSC is in good shape as she begins her time as director.
“We’re not too bad,” she said. “I would like to have more funding, but I know how everything is right now. We’re doing okay.”
Rivera said senior center officials see a good future, and much cleanup has been done thus far in her time as director. She added she is excited about what is ahead for the center.
“God put me here,” she said. “This is my focus. This is my baby, and I’m going to treat all these guys like they’re my family. In my book, they are.”
