Brittany Kelley
KYLE — The Kyle Area Senior Zone (KASZ) will be celebrating 20 years of service Feb. 3.
According to KASZ president Betty Conley, the nonprofit began in 2005 after the city of Kyle was planning on tearing down what is now known as the Krug Activity Center. Conley stated that the building’s historical significance motivated by KASZ founder Adell Hurst to advocate for its placement.
“Adele first went to the council and actually begged the city over and over, ‘Do not demo this [building].’ They said that renovations would be this much money [and] she said, ‘We’ll raise some money.’ So, they raised maybe about $180,000-$200,000 to help, so this would be saved,” said Conley. “She wanted to save the building and, in that, she wanted to have the senior center here.”
Previously, the seniors had been informally meeting, said KASZ communications and grants director Ellen Ermis. She explained that depression and isolation are among the top concerns for older adults, so the group, which was not formally named as KASZ yet, met at churches and houses to play games and chat.
Then, in February 2006, KASZ was founded by Hurst as a nonprofit, with the hope of providing camaraderie for its members. Both Conley and Ermis emphasized that Hurst always had a knack for helping others, as she worked with Community Action.
It wasn’t until a year or two later, when the renovations on the Krug Activity Center were completed, that lunches began being served weekly. With this new addition and members growing in numbers, KASZ began looking at other ways it could aid its members.
“Now, we offer not only [friendship], but education, technology, health and nutrition, resources for Medicare and home health and assisted livings — stuff that seniors need to have information for,” said Conley.
Ermis added that the nonprofit also started partnering with various corporations that work to serve older adults to sponsor lunches and informative classes for KASZ members.
These classes can range from fun activities, such as Tai Chi, balance classes, pickleball, crochet, sewing, chair volleyball and game nights, to education opportunities, including grief discussions, how-to classes to receive medical equipment, information on assisted living facilities and more.
Not only are older adults benefiting from KASZ, said Conley, but also their caretakers. The president explained that many young adults are unaware of services that may be available for their parents or grandparents, such as the ability to receive five days off a month through an assisted living or nursing facility, or are simply unprepared and without direction: “KASZ has brought this to the table,” said Conley.
Ermis stressed that KASZ also vets the organizations that they promote. So, they ensure that those using services will not be taken advantage of by pricing or fraud.
Although the organization now offers more to its members, the pair noted that they are still actively making an effort to get older adults involved and out of their house.
The nonprofit achieves this through multiple volunteer opportunities throughout the year, including volunteering for the city phone lines, hosting holiday events, participating in food and clothing drives, giving out candy at Halloween, creating crafts for a good cause and more.
“I had one senior that walked into that door and I talked to her about [our organization] and, after, she said, ‘Thank you. You saved my life.’ I said, ‘You’re a friend when you walk in the door, but you become family.’ She said, ‘Well. I wasn’t going to live after today.’ So, she was anticipating — I think — [ending her life],” recalled Conley. “It’s important that the seniors and their families have information to make their life better. Seniors are living longer and there’s no reason that they need to feel like they’re isolated.”
Over the years, KASZ has grown from 100 members to more than 1,500, gaining 20 to 30 new individuals each month.
In the future, and specifically at the new center that will house KASZ on Dacy Lane — which the organization hopes to name after Hurst — the nonprofit is striving to offer more classes, such as caregiver training, and create more opportunities to bring the generational gap through events, like afterschool tutoring or grandmothers day with grandchildren. It also hopes to expand its weekly Tuesday meal with an additional day.
To celebrate all it’s done in the past 20 years, there will be a celebration luncheon held from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 3. There will be a ticketed lunch, cake and informational boards on each decade that KASZ has been in operation, which were created by Lehman High School students. Additionally, several facilities in the city will be hosting celebrations for the anniversary throughout the month, to be announced at a later date.
Disabled adults or those 50 years-old and up can join KASZ by filling out an application in person. A caretaker must be available for anyone who is unable to take care of themselves, since KASZ does not have the ability to provide those services.
“It means everything [to do this for 20 years]. If I can bring a smile on one person’s face, then I know I’ve done what God wants us to do. As a senior myself, I wouldn’t have known where to go, how to handle Medicare, the routes of doing healthcare, if I didn’t have a way of getting the information. And you can’t get it from the city; you get it from KASZ,” Conley stated.
To learn more about KASZ, visit www.kasz.org.
