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MEGAN SCOTTSenior Citizens Services, a nonprofit which plans to be a donor to other agencies, closes three buildings and offers 2 acres for sale.
CLEARWATER - A 45-year-old nonprofit for seniors is planning to dismantle its social programs and become a donor to other senior agencies.
Senior Citizens Services closed its three buildings on Court Street last month. The agency now plans to sell the property, invest the proceeds and use the interest to help fund other senior programs, said Dr. William Hale, president of the organization.
"It would be an ongoing thing, we hope, for a long period of time," he said. "We will never touch the corpus. We will just go ahead and dispense from the investments."
Hale said he is unsure which senior agencies would receive the funding. That decision would be left to the agency's board of directors - not its 2,600 members. The organization is planning to refund their $10 annual dues.
For now, Senior Citizens Services is awaiting an answer from Pinellas County, which has expressed an interest in purchasing the 2-acre site. The property is assessed for tax purposes at $1.2-million.
Pinellas County officials are still determining whether the purchase is feasible.
"We are trying to get it done quickly, so we can give the sellers a response," Assistant County Administrator Gay Lancaster said. "We have to be in position to assure the board that there is money to make the purchase and also a good enough reason to recommend it."
Senior Citizens Services used to provide an array of activities for people 55 and over, including card games, sewing classes, dances, an investment club and tours.
But the organization was losing money, Hale said. Expenses typically exceeded revenues, and the organization had to borrow from reserves to keep operating.
In its 2002 tax return, the agency listed revenue at $587,834 and expenses at $658,401, with assets of $3,264,281.
The arts and crafts shop had also stopped making money. More than 100 seniors volunteered in the shop, which would have celebrated its 40th anniversary this month.
The store closed on Sept. 30.
"Everyone was contacted, and everyone took their items home," said Kathleen Anthony, an assistant manager for the store. "Some of the crafters are out-of-towners. We boxed and packed as much as we could. That was all taken over to our main office."
Anthony said some of the seniors had discussed opening their own store, but "we're all too old to start a business." She took home $1,125 worth of her own merchandise and was unsure what she was going to do with it.
Hale said the organization is searching for an existing venue where the seniors can sell their crafts.
In the meantime, the Salvation Army is going to use the empty spaces to run programs. Hale said he is unsure when the office building will close.
"We are in the process of bringing everything to an end," he said. "The office is still in the process of closing some of the programs, getting out mailings, that kind of thing."
Anthony wondered why the craft shop wasn't able to stay open through the holidays, the best time for selling handcrafts. She acknowledged the store was losing money but said the main reason was that people didn't know it was there.
"It was on a busy street with the traffic whizzing by," she said. "I think we got lost in the fray."
Hale said the craft shop was asked many times to come up with a marketing plan for survival. He said it was better to close the store then, as opposed to waiting until later.
The agency also wanted to make sure the property could be sold as an entity, he said.
"The Salvation Army is just a great program, and they were looking for a home," he said. "It was just coincidental. But it keeps the property in use. It cuts down on vandalism. We think it's something worthwhile that can help the community a great deal."
Megan Scott can be reached at 445-4167 or mscott@sptimes.com