By Pete Rios
Pinal County Board of Supervisors
According to a 2014 Census Bureau report – Statistics show in 2010, there were 40.3 million people aged 65 and above in the U.S. That is 13 percent of the United States population.
That number, to no one’s surprise, is growing. The trend is very evident here in the Copper Corridor.
We are very fortunate to have people who are working to ensure our elderly and most vulnerable in our communities are fed and nourished. The Hayden Senior Center is one of those groups who supplies many seniors within both Gila and Pinal Counties with a warm meal. Some of them gather for lunch at the senior center, the vast majority have their meals delivered to them.
Since the revaluation of ASARCO LLC copper company and huge reductions in their property value and cut-backs by the State of Arizona in revenue sharing funds, both the county and the Town of Hayden have taken a huge hit to their budgets and have been struggling. A trickle-down effect of the loss in revenue from the property taxes and revenue sharing has been an enormous budget deficit in town operations, including the Senior Citizen Center.
I was honored to see my counterparts on the Gila County Board of Supervisors donating $30,000 to help keep the Senior Center operating and to serve this area’s senior population. It was a very generous and wise use of their scarce public funds.
As I was aware that many of the seniors fed and cared for by the Hayden Senior Center were from Pinal County, I placed an agenda item on the Pinal County Board of Supervisor’s agenda for a donation to the Senior Center as well.
In the month of March, 2,600 congregate and home delivered meals were served to area seniors – more than half of those meals were delivered to Pinal County residents across the Copper Corridor, ranging from Superior to SaddleBrooke. Many of these meals are delivered to people who are homebound and cannot travel. For many of our seniors this will be the only meal they will have for the day. Staff from the Hayden Senior Center also do welfare checks on these folks to ensure their safety.
The original motion that I requested was for $10,000, but thanks to my fellow board members understanding the seriousness of this issue, they unanimously supported and approved my amendment to increase the amount to $20,000 for the Senior Center.
Paraphrasing my fellow board member Steve Miller: Government takes over the role that the private sector will not.
Simply put, this is our role. It is a moral imperative that we are doing all we can to help our seniors and most vulnerable.