“I would host someone every day if we could.”
That was a comment from newly named Interim Director of the Emporia Senior Center Carla Fessler when she joined KVOE’s Morning Show Monday, a week after her appointment was announced. Fessler was speaking to the level of interest that residents and organizations have expressed in utilizing the center in recent weeks, saying there is a clear appetite for more programs and events.
Fessler steps into her new role after having previously served as the first director of the SOS Supervised Visit and Exchange Center and later as the director of Camp Alexander where she led the camp through a period of great uncertainty. While she is credited for her leadership, Fessler says the success at Camp Alexander was the product of a team effort noting it “takes a village.”
She expects much of the same at the senior center which, as KVOE has reported extensively, has been hit hard in the past by financial struggles and other hardships including the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the past several months, however, the Senior Center Board of Directors has been hard at work to move past the struggles of previous years and towards a more vibrant future.
This has included an extensive reset on the center’s bi-weekly bingo events which has seen a sharp increase in participation recently according to board member Jeff Hodges.
In addition to her work with SOS and Camp Alexander, Fessler also spent a lengthy amount of time in the classroom as both an educator and counselor at Logan Avenue Elementary and Riverside Elementary from 2000 until her retirement in 2022. Fessler says her time in the classroom and her work with children will translate well over into her new position noting that while it is a change in demographic, the ultimate goal of service is the same.
Fessler takes over the center’s leadership role, at least temporarily, from Ian Boyd, who led the Senior Center from 2018 to this past January.
