“I think you have a pretty good shot,” said Todd Tennis of District 5 in response to Susan Cockerill after she applied for a position on the Senior Citizens Advisory Board.
On April 1, the Ingham County human services committee listened to Susan Cockrill’s application for the Senior Citizens Advisory Board. She proposed what she wanted to change at the county’s senior citizen facility. Her biggest interest and hope is for the facility to get more funding from the county.
Cockerill is a born and raised resident of Williamston and has worked many positions throughout the city. Most recently, she worked at the senior citizen facility as secretary and president and has now been retired for 10 years. Her goal is to become more involved again and help the facility receive proper funding.
“What programs are you looking to expand?” asked Commissioner Emily Stivers of District 11.
Cockerill said the most important needs are a bigger facility to get younger people volunteering. Currently, the average age of people in the facility is 82, and according to Cockerill, they need 65- to 75-year-old volunteers.
Most funding that the program is looking for would go to making everything more modern. Cockerill said that having more people would also provide more money for upgrades and better food. Along with more people, though, comes the issue of not enough space, according to Cockerill.
The members will meet again on April 12 to see if the funding will go through, although the committee members seemed confident that it will.