.png)
NEWPORT – Newport’s Hospitality House and the Priest River Senior Center have at least one thing in common - they help people.
Run by volunteers, both senior centers have served seniors and other members of the Pend Oreille and Bonner County communities for decades.
“If they need someplace to go, they know there’s someplace to come,” said Karen Rothstrom, 87, vice president of the Hospitality House board. “And if they need help or can’t find help, they can call here.”
Hospitality House came first in the ‘60s. The Pend Oreille County Council on Aging held a series of meetings in 1966 that led to the founding of Hospitality House on New Year’s Eve that year.
The council’s mission was to coordinate programs and projects designed to meet the needs and help solve the problems of seniors in the area, according to a résumé from the ‘70s. While Hospitality House still helps seniors, Rothstrom said their mission now is to help the public too.
“Our goal and mission of the Hospitality House is to own and maintain a building for the use of the public,” Rothstrom said.
Last week alone, Hospitality House held free breakfast Saturday morning, five-hour games of pinochle on Monday, Thursday and Saturday, near-daily Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, veterans’ outreach on Thursday and other events.
Many members of the community work with Hospitality House to organize these events. Mountain View Kennel in Blanchard teaches dog training classes Tuesday nights, and the Pend Oreille County Radio Group provides another free breakfast Tuesday mornings.
“Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, this building is busy from 8 o’clock in the morning ‘till 8 o’clock at night,” Rothstrom said. “Packed.”
Besides events, Hospitality House has a corner for the community to leave and take items for free. Some have left canned food, others have left CDs. One senior who frequents Hospitality House makes gloves and gives them away, also for free. And a rack by Hospitality House’s entrance carries free clothing.
“There’s all kinds of stuff that people bring in,” said Dale Weathers, 75, president of the Hospitality House board. “It disappears, it gets used.”
As a nonprofit organization, Hospitality House relies on grants from members of the community. One was from the Kalispel Tribe of Indians, who paid for the replacement of appliances in Hospitality House’s kitchen. Recent renovations to paint, flooring and the front of the building were also funded by the community.
“We appreciate that,” Weathers said. “We’re known as a community thing, and they want to support the community.”
The Priest River Senior Center followed Hospitality House soon after in the ‘70s. Its official name is the Frank Chapin Senior Center, named after the local humanitarian who founded it. Chapin worked with another locals to get a grant from the federal government to build the senior center. It opened in July 1979, shortly before Chapin’s death in October of that year.
Now, it is operated by the Priest River Happy Agers, also a nonprofit.
“We’re more into community service also now, but the primary mission of this organization is senior citizens. Plus, community help,” said Ted Moss, 80, president of the Happy Agers board.
At the Priest River Senior Center, last week’s events included free lunch Monday afternoon, four-hour bingo Tuesday night, exercise and dance sessions every weekday morning and more.
While Moss said the Priest River Senior Center prioritizes seniors, other members of the public may participate in its events or request to rent it — $75 for half a day and $150 for a full day. Oftentimes, other nonprofits do not even have to pay a fee.
“The seniors come first,” Ted Moss said. “We do stuff for seniors.”
Some of the Priest River Senior Center’s events double as fundraisers for members of the community. Its most recent donations, ranging from hundreds to over a thousand dollars, were to the Heartbridge Life Center, Priest River Animal Rescue and West Pend Oreille Fire Department, among others.
In return, the communities donate back. Mi Pueblo’s Priest River branch has catered for the senior center for free, and multiple businesses funded its annual Thanksgiving community dinner last year.
“That’s what we live on is donations and bingo,” Ted Moss said. The senior center’s weekly bingo nights, which average 30 to 40 players, are its main source of income. “And we get nothing else coming in. No grants, no help from the city or the county or anything like that.”
For seniors, Hospitality House and the Priest River Senior Center are reasons to get out of the house, Rothstrom said.
Weathers went to Hospitality House to meet people. Soon after they moved to Priest River in the early 2010s, Ted Moss and his wife Bobbie Moss started volunteering for the Priest River Senior Center to meet people too.
None of them want to see their senior center close.
“I have two reasons. Number one, at my age I want to keep active, and number 2, it’s fun,” said Bobbie Moss, 81, a member of the Happy Agers board. “It’s a pleasure to serve the people.”
To volunteer for Hospitality House, call 509-447-3812 or visit between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. To volunteer for the Priest River Senior Center, call 208-448-2352 or Ted Moss at 925-202-5142, or visit during one of its events.
