SEQUIM — It was Thanksgiving, and the Senior Center was about to serve a feast; a Sequim woman had a ticket and had driven across town, hungry.
But instead of stopping, she handed her ticket to director Michael Smith and told him she was going home.
“She couldn’t find a place to park,” Smith recalled ruefully.
So although a parking lot is not something that easily attracts support, the Senior Center must raise the money for one.
When the center throws parties and hosts classes — which is often — people sometimes have to park blocks away or in the QFC lot, Smith said.
In 2005, Senior Center members and community groups contributed some $75,000 to help the center purchase the vacant lot across from its building at 921 E. Hammond St. That parcel will turn into about 44 parking spaces, to augment the 68 spots in the center’s original lot.
But another $37,000 is needed to pay for paving, sidewalks, wheelchair ramps and lighting on the new lot, said Barbara Montgomery, a leader of the fund-raising effort.
“We would love to have it done by this Thanksgiving,” she said.
Besides its parking lot project, the Senior Center could use an image makeover, said board president Leah Davis.
TELEVISIONS AND TURNTABLES for $5, a spotless sofa for $125, stereo tuners at $10, DVD players for $15, a $22 Yamaha keyboard, a never-used Hitachi food steamer at $5 and a trove of priced-to-move LPs, books, clothing and children’s items — they’re all part of the Sequim Senior Center’s annual Benefit Sale today and Friday.
Roomfuls of electronics, Christmas decorations, and housewares, plus an outdoor display of furniture, are available from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. both days at 921 E. Hammond St.
For information call 360-683-6806.