Senior center is set to close

Thursday, Oct. 14, 2004 | 11:13 a.m.

The Arturo Cambeiro Senior Center, believed to be the only drop-in center in the valley whose mission is specifically to serve the growing Hispanic population, is set to close by the week's end, according to an announcement Wednesday that caught the community by surprise.

The center is one of eight programs run by the Nevada Association of Latin Americans Inc., a nonprofit organization that offers services ranging from child care to immigration counseling.

The organization sent out a one-paragraph press release Wednesday afternoon announcing the Friday closure of the center, which serves meals and offers educational and recreational programs at 323 N. Maryland Pkwy. to as many as 70 senior citizens daily. Teri De la Torre, NALA's executive director, was not available for comment, having left the office 10 minutes after the release was sent out.

The paragraph said the center was closing "due to lack of government funding."

Tony Sanchez, immediate past president of the Latin Chamber of Commerce, whose headquarters is next door to the Cambeiro center, said the announcement "took us totally by surprise."

"We're very concerned about this, since it's one of the only services of its kind," Sanchez said.

Las Vegas City Councilman Lawrence Weekly, whose ward includes the senior center, said the news of the closure was "absolutely awful."

Weekly said the senior citizens who use the center were also informed Wednesday, and it wasn't clear where they would go for services once the center's doors were closed.

"We were already planning Thanksgiving and Christmas activities for them," he said.

Weekly's staff member, Kelly Benavidez, said she talked to Mark Sandoval, chairman of NALA's board, as soon as she heard that his organization planned to close the center.

"I said, 'Please do not close the doors,' " she said. "But he said they had already lost enough money on the center."

Benavidez said the city had contributed $9,000 to the center this fiscal year, though NALA had asked for $20,000. NALA's total budget is $1.1 million, but it is unclear how much it costs to run the Cambeiro center.

The nonprofit organization's 2002 tax form -- the most recent one immediately available -- indicates that $166,564 was spent on the center. The form also indicated that the organization's executive director, De la Torre, was paid $52,500 and the child care director was paid $35,922.

Benavidez said she asked De la Torre where the seniors were going to go and was told that the East Las Vegas Community Center was being considered as an alternative.

"Then I asked if they (at the East Las Vegas Community Center) knew about this, and she said no, she hadn't spoken to them yet," Benavidez said.

Weekly's staff member said it is also unclear if the other center had enough bilingual personnel to help the seniors from Cambeiro, which offers English as a Second Language classes as well.

Benavidez said she thinks Cambeiro is the only senior center in the valley catering to Hispanics.

She also said she was trying to set up a meeting today between Weekly, the Latin Chamber and NALA to see if there is some way to keep the center afloat.

"Where else are they going to go?" she asked.