MIDLAND, Texas — The City of Midland's senior services is turning over a new leaf.
After 32 years with Senior Life another non-profit, Casa de Amigos, is stepping in to oversee the city's two senior centers.
"What we really learned is in Midland at our senior centers there's a lot of social services needed and Casa de Amigos already has the ability to offer those social services, they have a great volunteer base," Tina Jauz, director of community services for the City of Midland said.
After running their own successful senior center for 42 years, both the City of Midland and Casa de Amigos feel this transition is the best fit.
The only difference now is that there is more responsibility and a larger budget. $600,000 per year to be exact-this will cover all costs.
"They're in charge of hiring and firing of employees, staffing, offering insurance to the employees, whatever it takes to staff the centers, but they're also in charge of developing programs and brainstorming on new ideas," Jauz said.
Although the city's senior centers are still closed due to the pandemic, there's still work being done to make sure every senior in the city is getting the care they need.
Helping these at-risk individuals during a pandemic isn't easy.
"You couple that with a change in the senior centers and that also makes it very difficult, so we want to make sure that the seniors have as much information as possible, so they know what the transition is, they know who to call and they feel safe and secure," Tonya Eckert, executive director for Casa de Amigos said.