Without a little help from their friends, the Doubleday Babcock Senior Center is going to be running in the red. "We are running a $67,000 shortfall this year," said Barbara Hadel, DBSC executive director. "We have not had to borrow money to meet expenses yet, but we will have to this year, we are going to hit a snag in mid-year," she said.

The center, she said, is lucky there are no mortgage payments to add to their expenses. They built the center without having to get a mortgage and have run their programs for five years with no financial shortages. The problem they are facing today, is what all the non-profits are across the country are facing. "There is less money in all human services across the country. We need funding to keep doing what we are doing," she said.

"We, like others, were beneficiaries when stocks were up. Those foundations whose donations were based on giving away 'X' amount of money, have less to give away. They've been hit by the stock drops, the economy has been affected on every level. There is not that much money available. Now local and federal budgets are having deficits too," she said.

Ms. Hadel is optimistic that next year will be better. "We don't know, but the further away we get from 9/11, the better. The United Way of Long Island was severely hurt by 9/11, as was their giving sector, so all member agencies of United Way (of which we are one) have been hurt one way or another. The best minds think that will not be the story in years to come but that is only one piece of the puzzle," she said. "We hope we don't have another disaster that re-directs peoples' contributions."

"We have never been an agency that asks for more than we needed and this is the first year we are asking for more than we have before. We need a little extra help to get over the hump," she said.

Running DBSC out of its own building is costing more than when they were housed at Christ Church where the heating, lighting and insurance was taken care of by the church. Their insurance liability costs for the new building are up. Add to that the insurance costs for another vehicle. They added a car for transportation of members to medical, dental and social service appointments, to their existing bus that brings seniors to the center. The car is driven by volunteers.

Since moving to their new building, the group has increased its programs as well as membership. Today there are 1,600 members. About 700 plus unduplicated members or participants come in and out over the year. Over the course of a day 85 to 100 can come in and out, said Barbara Bloomenthal, program coordinator. "There are about 1,000 that use the outside services including trips, social worker, nurse, and veteran service agency now that we are one. If you have the need we probably have the answer. Come see who we are and what we do," she said. "There is even a Sunday musical series we are producing. It is funded by the Freeport Arts Council. The six performances start on April 9 with Linda Ciofalo, a jazz vocalist who will perform from 2 to 4. Refreshments will be included. It is $25 for the series, $5 for each performace. The series includes: May 18 is Linda Ipanemana, the Queen Dixieland; June 8 is the Senior Mandolin and Guitar Quartet; July 13 is the entire Mid Island Barbershop Chorus; Aug 10 is the Banjo Society; Sept. 14 is Mary Caroline, a former Copa girl and the last of the red hot mamas."

Ms. Hadel said while they are asking for financial help, "at the same time we are being as economical and frugal as we can." She said that in this economy getting grants is also more difficult since grants require matching funds. "Federal funds are funneled to the state which has to match the funding; they in turn give the money to the county which has to add their match; then it gets down to the local group, in this case DBSC, which has to provide a 10 percent contract fee. When the county has as big fiscal problems as it has, in the interest of sustaining as many programs as they can, they have to thin out their share of funding," she explained.

DBSC does have a nutritional contract that covers meals and while they are only one of two senior centers in Nassau County that prepare their own food, (the others have catered meals) they have to submit the menus for approval and remain within the $2 cost for the raw materials. The lunch must contain a third of the daily allowance recommended for seniors.

DBSC also has a contract for supportive services: medical and bus transportation - the kinds of general support people need to stay at home and stay active in their community.

A solution to cover their shortfall might be charging for services and having a membership fee. Ms. Hadel explained there is a problem with charging for services if those services are provided with federal money from the Older Americans Act. Then the center is not allowed to ask for money but can ask for donations that will cover the cost of the service. The federal law was written to provide service to everyone over 60.

They are not allowed to charge a membership fee but they do encourage people to become Friends of DBSC. That costs $25 a year. "You can be a best friend at $300 or very best friend at $500," she said.

They did however raise the fee for the weight room this year, but anyone who can't afford the cost will be accommodated. "We have to service the equipment once a year but it needs no staff members to run," she said. There are 17 employees: seven full time and 10 part time, who work as few as six hours a week. That is their homecare referral coordinator who matches people who need companions, homemakers, nurses or aides.

Ms. Hadel explained the reach of the program. DBSC members come from what is called a catchment area for services. The Nassau County Department of Senior Citizen Affairs has divided the county into areas. The DBSC area includes Oyster Bay, East Norwich, Bayville and Locust Valley, so people needing services in that area are directed to come to DBSC. There are several senior citizen clubs in the catchment area, but they are mainly social clubs. There is the Beech Brook Senior Citizen Club which is funded through the Town of Oyster Bay Department of Senior Services and operates a Wednesday lunch program. "That's the reason we serve no lunch on Wednesdays," she said.

Lunch is served Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Besides the seniors who come in for services, there is another group they serve who are homebound. The center does visitations and telephone assurance calls. A nurse is available for home visits two days a week. She checks on the status of a variety of clients with different needs. There is a social worker on staff, who leads a free caregivers group for people who are often not members of the center. They are taking care of their senior family members. It is important information about the population that the center serves.

"The caregivers' meetings run continuously and offer all kinds of advice. We ask people to become members and become involved, but we don't deny anyone. If we charged, probably the very people who needed the service wouldn't be able to pay for it. It may be a mistake, and be something we have to think about in the future," Ms. Hadel said.

The center has found ways to make their dollars stretch further. Volunteers from AHRC help in the food preparation. They portion the meal and do the meal cleanup as well as dishwashing. About five to six volunteers come daily. "They think it's wonderful, that they are coming to work. The seniors enjoy them and appreciate them so much; they were nominated Volunteers of the Year recently."

Mill Neck Services members are soon going to help with the maintenance which will free up some staff time. "We make good use of the seniors but the more groups we can involve the better we are," she said. The seniors contribute their time and talent as well as resources and do that all year long and do a really good job. DBSC has a series of ongoing fund raisers such as their booths at the Strawberry and Oyster Festivals and Memorial Day Bake Sale and Christmas Cookie Sale. They have an annual raffle of craft items. Eighty-five seniors volunteered for their Oyster Festival booth.

Another population the center services are those older residents who are being cared for at home. Besides the caregiver program, they offer a respite for the caregiver that increases the chances for socialization for the elderly. The adult day care program does not use outside funding which allows them to charge a fee. The ancillary costs of light, insurance and utilities are not covered by the fee. "We try to keep the fee to cover the cost of staff. Although some seniors can't pay we offer scholarships. We find a way," Ms. Hadel said.

"Day Break operates with a ratio of four-to-one. If someone is frailer and needs more services, I have to provide it. The attendance goes up and down, from two to three one day to 12 or 13 on a good day," she added.

Ms. Hadel said people have asked about long range planning but her answer is that the center is too volatile. "My long range plan is to continue to adjust to what older people in the community tell me they need; to drop those programs they say they don't want and to add new things they want. We continue to adapt to the changing needs of a changing population. We are very different today when living to 90 is considered normal. That wasn't the case 30 years ago. The seniors tell me what they want to stay alive and active in the community and then we do what we can to get them it. That's why we now have three days of adult day care," she said.

"We don't do anything for people that they can do for themselves. We do 'with', not 'for' the members. When you can't do something, then we'll find a way."

Ms. Hadel is open to suggestions for the center's financial situation. "We are open to consider almost anything at this point," she said. They have done a flea market recently. She is considering a shop with craft items made by the seniors.

If you would like to contribute to help cover the shortfall, you can call Ms. Hadel at 922-1770.