Dear Jack,
WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?
What part of “DO NOT USE THE SENIOR CENTER FOR YOUR PERSONAL GAIN” DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?
I read with great interest this week’s interview with you in the Chronicle and one of the many blatant exaggerations and misstatements that it is peppered with was your statement that “I started the commissioner’s day lunch, the first Monday of the month, when I buy everyone lunch.” He said. “The reason for this is the senior center needs attendance to get funding. This is my way to help bring the people in.”
The article continues:
He said the first time there were only eight to 10 people, but now it is about 25. He joins them most of the time and has a chance to talk to the seniors.
This statement makes it sound like you have singlehandedly increased the numbers wholesale at the center. No Jack. YOU HAVE NOT. Meatloaf day does better than you.
Jack, while it is nice that you are buying lunches on Mondays, we, the Board, thought it was because you were being generous and selfless. Guess we were wrong. When you tout your “generosity” it’s called self-promotion. Normal people do a good deed and keep quiet about it.
Jack, while it is true that the center gets state funds for the lunch participation it is Stacy Gilbert, the Executive Director of the Senior Center, who is the one responsible for increasing the numbers at the Senior Center….she and the staff are solely responsible for this. Additionally, if a senior cannot pay for their lunch on ANY day of the week they don’t have to pay …so no one goes hungry. That is what we focus on…feeding the seniors.
The numbers have been increasing steadily since Stacy started. There are several factors that affect the numbers, one is the weather, another is the menu. Quite frankly your free lunches don’t draw as well as meatloaf and 25 people at lunch on any given day is tough to do even if we were giving away champagne and oysters so I don’t know where you got that number.
Additionally there are people who eat there on Monday who pay for their own lunch rather than be beholding to you.
Jack, while I think that your Monday lunch helps a few seniors I also think that it is despicable that you continue to use the Senior Center for your own personal advancement. Your comments in December were blatant lies when you told people that the center was missing $800. Now you make it sound like you are responsible for increasing the numbers at the center and taking credit for Stacy’s and her teams work. Please stop it.
If you are wondering why I come out and hit this so hard with you it’s because seniors are a very vulnerable population. Stacy and her team in addition to the board is there to serve and support the seniors, to protect them from being used, abused, taken advantage of and manipulated politically. Your continued misstatements about the center and now your obvious self-aggrandizing of your involvement makes it look like you are just using the center as a means to an end.
Once again I say STOP IT!