SAN ANTONIO – After seeing a significant increase in the number of seniors needing community resources, the House of Neighborly Service hopes to expand its senior center for its programs. It is halfway to its goal of raising enough money to make it happen.
The nonprofit has been on the West Side for 107 years, focusing on four service areas. It is located at 407 N. Calaveras Street.
They also operate a senior center on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at 315 N. Calaveras Street, down the street.
“We look at child development, childhood family wellness, senior health and food security,” said Sandra Morales, the nonprofit’s executive director. “We have programing in each of these areas and we partner with other organizations to help with speech therapy and much needed services like that because most families are Spanish dominant. "
Morales said that from Loteria to financial literacy, the organization has made a significant footprint in the community for people who need help the most.
They serve anywhere between 500 and 1,000 people a year.
“We have families that come to us in a time of need, and we may not see some for a long period of time, so we are here to lend support when they do need us,” Morales said.
She said the COVID-19 pandemic really had an impact on their seniors.
“We just make it a place for them to congregate and socialize,” Morales said. “Covid hit our seniors harder with isolation and loneliness so here they can get together with friends and socialize and have a good time.”
Because the organization has grown as far as the people they serve, they are hoping to upgrade a building on their property to make it their official senior center.
“Our seniors are in a space across the street at capacity,” she said. “There is literally a waitlist because, at the most, we can fit about 45-50 seniors, so we are bursting at the seams.”
Before the coronavirus pandemic, they had 126 seniors in their program, but now they are up to 282, she said.
“Prior to covid, we were serving a little over 400 meals a month,” Morales said. “Now we are serving more than 2,800 meals a month just for seniors. That is not even including the little ones. It is expanding, so we need that bigger space to accommodate more seniors in our community so they are not cramped where they are at.”
They already upgraded the front of their main building in Phase 1. Now, they are hoping to upgrade a portion of that building that was built in the 1960s.
This is Phase 2 and will include enclosing the building, adding more tables, creating an open stage area for community events, and more.
“In the back, we will have playrooms for our child therapy for children and then child relationship therapy for parents,” she said.
Once the project is complete, the hope is to be able to operate their senior center 5 days a week.
The price tag is about $2.8 million, and so far, donations have raised $1.4 million.
They are asking anyone who can donate anything to visit their website at www.hnstoday.org
“We need the support,” Morales said. “We want to be able to provide our seniors with resources and activities to help them age in place gracefully and help with any family in need. Mental health is a big issue we are tackling and more with this community.”
