The following was submitted by the Orcas Senior Center.

When one door closes, another one opens.

We would like to thank Didier for his years of service at the Senior Center as Hearts and Hands Coordinator. His energy and enthusiasm for coordinating the care and service of our islands elders is recognized by all of us here at the Senior Center. His talent for facilitating events and bringing people together to serve a worthy cause will surely continue to be of service on this island and hopefully again in another form here at our Senior Center. Join us to celebrate and enjoy the talents of Didier and his friends at our “Seniors Have Talent” show this upcoming Nov. 5 and 12.

In 2014 it was recommended to the Operations Committee that the independent contractor positions of Senior Center Manager and Hearts and Hands Coordinator both be made into employee positions, with the Hearts and Hands coordinator serving as an assistant to the manager and supporting operations of the Orcas Island Senior Center. At this time, only the manager was made into an employee and while Didier continued to fulfill his duties as Hearts and Hands coordinator he also became more involved in the operations with fundraising, activities programming and facility support.

In June of 2016 the HR Committee started to take a serious look at both the position descriptions of the manager and of the Hearts and Hands coordinator to see if they would be able to complete the vision and intention that had begun in 2014. The result was a new position description for the senior center manager and a newly defined position, which was named the Senior Center Administrator.

Since the staffing transition in October of 2015 we have been actively expanding and improving services and programming and creatively adding field trips and activities to the calendar. Jami Mitchell continues to serve in her county position Senior Services Specialist, with Arron Redford fulfilling her newly revised position as Senior Center Manager, now supported by the newly defined administrator position.

Didier moves on to greener pastures as we retire the role previously known as Hearts and Hands Coordinator. The positions of Senior Center Manager and Senior Center Administrator will now work together to support and fully integrate the Hearts and Hands program as a program of the Senior Center while achieving the vision and goals of the Operations Committee for a successful Senior Center.

We are excited to announce that Celia Farr-Smith has accepted our offer for the position of Senior Center Administrator. Celia moved to Orcas two years ago from Bellingham, her adopted hometown where she studied linguistics, French, the English language, and experiential learning in adult education. She moved to Orcas in order to continue her current research in emotional intelligence with a focus on how to enhance and incorporate happiness and its lively counterparts into everyday living. Please, stop by to say hello and introduce yourself.