Get tickets for Sedalia Gala to help Senior Center

The senior center will honor three of the community’s most outstanding older citizens at its first-ever gala event and auction scheduled for June 24. Check out the fine auction baskets at our Facebook page.

Get your individual tickets for$50 each, or buy a table of eight for $400. Sales are taking place at the senior center in the Heckart Community Center, 1800 W. Third St. or by calling 660-826-0713. The event will take place at 5 p.m. in the senior center dining room.

The gala will honor these three individuals:

• Rhonda Chalfant, Ph.D., author, columnist for the Sedalia Democrat, and consultant for preservation and history.
• Lauretta E. Emerson, retired registered nurse and advocate for civil rights, especially the right to equal access to quality health care.
• Allen Hawkins, former mayor of Sedalia, retired monument maker, and U.S. Marines veteran of the Korean War.

All three of these guests of honor are receiving services from the senior center.

The fundraising goal is $25,000, which will help the center continue to serve tens of thousands of  meals to older adults annually. The center, operated by Care Connection for Aging Services, depends on the local community for more than one-third of its operating budget.

The center, which moved in March 2022 to the Heckart Community Center, provides hot lunches to people 60 and older in its dining room for a suggested contribution of $5 toward the total cost of the meal, $9.50. The center also delivers meals to the homes of qualified older adults.