New Overton County Senior Center Director Michael Deaver said she wants to give the Senior Center a new direction.
Deaver said the Senior Center will be a place that offers community resources to help individuals maintain independence and wellness. Deaver said part of her goals are offering meals, health promotion classes, and helping senior citizens learn about healthy aging and activities. Deaver said she looks forward to opening a Senior Center that has a new spin on ideas.
“We are gonna continue our community connections,” Deaver said. “We need to rebuild it, and we need to grow. We are gonna really try to engage the community members at 60 years and up, and I think that we have a lot of room to grow.”
Deaver and Overton County Executive Steven Barlow are visiting other senior centers across the Upper Cumberland to see how Overton County can improve its senior center. Deaver said a timeline of when the senior center will reopen is unknown, as the county is currently remodeling the building.
“We are putting new lighting in, we are repainting, we are redoing the bathrooms, the kitchen, and floors,” Deaver said. “You know that building has been used, so we are just giving it a new facelift.”
Deaver said she has lived in the Upper Cumberland Region for 21 years. Deaver said she felt moved to apply for the job once it became available.
“I know that I wanted to give back to the Overton County community as I have for many years already, and I thought this would be a new opportunity to join in with wonderful people in the community, just to enhance our community and our services that we provide.”
Barlow said he is looking forward to reopening the senior center and believes that under Deaver’s leadership, the senior center will be a place for senior citizens to make new friends and improve the quality of life in Overton County.
Deaver said she is working on a survey that will be available to provide feedback on what activities the community would like to see once the senior center reopens.
