A longtime dream and the focus of a fundraising campaign amid multiple hurdles, including the global COVID-19 pandemic, moved closer to reality with the start of construction for the Solvang Senior Center’s new home.
A standing-room-only crowd gathered Wednesday afternoon for a groundbreaking ceremony at the site of the center’s home, 1745 Mission Drive. The facility sits behind the Veterans Memorial Building and Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office substation on county land in the city of Solvang.
Arrival of the long-awaited day saw several project leaders, including Solvang Senior Center Executive Director Ellen Albertoni choke with emotion as they recalled assorted hurdles to reach construction.
“This is overwhelming. Thank you for joining us on this momentous occasion,” she said.
The 5,500–square-foot, two-story building will double the center’s prior size, allowing expanded services once construction is done around June 2026.
“Today, we celebrate not just the start of construction but the investment you made in the future of our community,” said Kathleen Campbell, a member of the project’s steering committee and daughter of Solvang’s first mayor, Elaine “Willi” Campbell.
“This new facility will empower independent seniors, enhancing their ability to contribute to the community. It’s going to create opportunities for engagement, offer a wider range of programs and foster connections that will promote well-being and celebrate the vitality of our active aging adults.”
As she spoke, Campbell said she was standing in for her mom, Willi Campbell, who died in 2016. The former mayor had recognized that the senior center would be inadequate as the baby boomer generation aged.
“She made sure we all knew it, and those of you who knew her know she told us loud and clear every single chance she got. … And here we are today, turning dreams into reality,” Campbell said.
“We began with a vision, we planned through a pandemic, we rallied support from every corner of this valley, and today we break ground on that dream,” Campbell said, adding that her mother’s passion inspired action.
To fund the project, the senior center launched a capital campaign collecting small donations adding up to $200,000 from members and $650,000 from the organization’s leaders.
In total, they raised $5 million, organizers said. That’s higher than initially estimated after they learned late in the process that the project needed to pay prevailing wages.
The capital campaign’s “knight in shining armor” was Santa Ynez resident Virgil Elings, a retired physics professor and philanthropist, who donated $1 million. The center will include an area known as Elings Square.
The financial donations, no matter how big or small, have been essential to reaching the milestone of the project’s groundbreaking, leaders said, adding that donors include multiple foundations.
In 2018, the Rotary Club of Solvang held a fundraiser, providing $50,000 for the project. Likewise, the Vikings of Solvang gave $50,000.
In 2021, Montecito Bank & Trust signed on as the lead business sponsor, a key milestone that launched the capital campaign getting support from the wider community.
Santa Barbara County helped out by granting the group a longtime lease — it expires in 2113 — for the land where the center sits. The City of Solvang provided $450,000, proceeds from the Measure U 1% sales tax hike approved by voters in 2022.
Construction on the new facility comes days after the demolition of portable buildings that have housed senior programs for years.
While the old building is gone and the new facility is under construction, the senior center will continue to offer programs in the nearby Veterans Memorial Building while looking to the future.
“With your support, the center will become the showcase for community collaboration on the Central Coast,” said Jan Clevenger, president of the senior center board.
Steve Brown, a senior center member, shared about the importance of the organization since he joined about 10 years ago. He has taken tai chi classes, participated in monthly dinners, learned to play a ukulele and practiced yoga through the group’s activities.
“We have a new home to build. Let’s go get ‘er done,” Brown said.
The Solvang Senior Center is one of three capital campaigns recently conducted in the Santa Ynez Valley, with the Solvang Festival Theater’s updates already done.
The third campaign, for the Santa Ynez Valley Community Aquatic Complex, seeks funds to install a 25-yard recreation pool and 33-meter competition pool to be located on the Santa Ynez Valley Union High School campus.