Age Concern boosted as minibus sales secure centres' future
Two care centres have been given a new lease of life after the sale of four minibuses raised £20,000.
Age Concern run the Elton Day Care Centre, in Stourbridge, and Green Lane Day Centre, in Halesowen.
They have been kept up and running after the sales - which saw three minibuses sold to charity and another sold off at auction for £2,700 on October 12.
It follows Age Concern's departure from the Mary Stevens Day Centre in Stourbridge after 100 per cent of its service level agreement funding from Dudley Council was removed back in April.
Chief officer Dionne Legge said: "It's all sorted - since we have come out of Mary Stevens Day Centre I think people thought the whole of Age Concern had closed down.
"We are still here serving the elderly in the Dudley Borough.
"We have a fantastic service in the Elton Centre and we're still offering day care five days a week but its not located in Halesowen.
"We have vacancies for trustees - we have three vacancies.
"We're a smaller organisation after closing Mary Stevens, we have had to slim down the organisation but we're still trying to carry on.
"The minibuses were probably worth more but we don't feel hard done by, we accept that with happiness.
"Three of them went to charities - with one of those to Age UK Dudley and another to Hall Flyers in Wombourne.
"The fourth and oldest one went to auction, that was at Brightwells, they were fantastic, they didn't charge us for selling it.
"Things are very tight, we just could not carry on running three centres.
"It's a long road ahead and we can only try our best, we need more people through the door using our services.
"We have reserves but they won't last forever - I think we are a valid organisation that really does meet the needs of the older person in the community."
Up for sale was a 2007 Mercedes Sprinter, a 2006 Mercedes Vario, a 2008 Mercedes Sprinter, and a 2009 Iveco Daily.
The minibuses were used to transport elderly service users to and from the centre and for day trips.
The sales follow cuts Age Concern had to make to eight staff members after losing more than £21,000 a year in funding.
