North Shore Senior Center is all the way back following winter flooding; grand reopening planned for August

Under the green awning of the North Shore Senior Center entryway stands a sign that reads “Welcome Back,” inviting guests through the main south doors for the first time since January.

For the last five months, those doors were shuttered, as the senior center has undergone extensive cleaning, reconstruction and inspection following heavy rains that damaged the building at the end of January.

But on Monday, July 14, the senior center resumed full operations, as announced in a Facebook post, welcoming older residents of the North Shore back to a restored hub of community and care.

The organization will host a grand reopening, Cheers to NSSC, from 4:30-7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 21, at its homebase, 161 Northfield Road, Northfield. The event will also commemorate 25 years in the senior center’s flagship location, which was founded on Aug. 18, 2000, and feature food, live music, a silent auction and a ribbon cutting ceremony.

The senior center is also encouraging donations at the event to cover the cost of regular fundraising needs.

“This was a speed bump,” said Tish Rudnicki, the organization’s executive director. “It wasn’t debilitating, yes challenging, but not debilitating. So we’re celebrating the grand reopening as well as 25 years in this building, and happily. She looks much better than she did a year ago.”

Almost six months since the damaging rains, The Record breaks down the recovery efforts and what is still to come for the North Shore Senior Center.

The restoration process

Rudnicki was on her last day of vacation in January when she woke up to dozens of panicked texts and phone calls. When she returned the evening of Friday, Jan. 31, she found the North Shore Senior Center in “gut-wrenching” disarray.

Heavy rains from overnight into Jan. 31 flooded into the senior center, compromising its welcome desk, shop and administrative offices, among other areas. Rudnicki entered the scene to felled downed ceilings, destroyed walls and curled flooring, she said. The building’s south side also suffered extensive damage, resulting in the closure of the center’s main entrance.

Over the past five months, approximately half of the senior center’s 40,000-square-foot building was closed, Rudnicki said. The center dried before officials did an initial cleaning and then searched for contractors to begin restoration, which did not begin until the end of April.

Repairs include an improved HVAC and restoration to the building’s front entrance, exterior and interior areas. She added that some of the improvements, such as the addition of an ADA-compliant reception desk, made for a silver lining to the disaster.

“As difficult as the past few months have been, what has been really fun in all of this is we could update and refresh, because we needed to replace antiquated, dated pieces of the center,” Rudnicki said.

Reconstruction, however, did not come without challenges.

North Shore Senior Center’s insurance claims reportedly were denied, so it had to launch a fundraising campaign to support the restoration.

“(The most challenging part) was really securing the funding and making sure that we were able to restore the building appropriately, safely and with some updates without overspending,” Rudnicki said.

The organization set a goal of $1.5 million for its spring fundraising campaign to cover the costs of restoration and its standard nonprofit needs. Though donations came up slightly short of that goal, Rudnicki said, they covered the cost of a new roof.

She said that after receiving an initial estimate of more than $1 million for a new roof, the senior center found a new method and provider at a cost of roughly $410,000. The roof replacement was sealed and water tight by its proposed deadline of late May, officials said.

Although the building has been open in a limited capacity since early February, the reopening on July 14 marked the first time the entire building has been accessible and functional.

As the senior center prepares for its grand reopening, the tuckpointing crew will finish up repairs on the building’s north side, which served as the only entrance during repairs. Rudnicki said other finishing touches include painting, cleaning, moving back into the shop and restoring a brick floor inside the building — changes expected to be completed by the Cheers to NSSC event.

A community pillar

The North Shore Senior Center is a nonprofit that has served adults and families across the New Trier area and Chicago’s northern suburbs since its founding in 1956. Today, the organization serves nearly 25,000 individuals annually through counseling, fitness programs, memory care, lifelong learning, volunteer opportunities and other services.

The center receives significant funding from New Trier Township, as well as several municipalities, such as the Villages of Glenview, Northbrook and Skokie.

Rudnicki said that the damage to the center, while disappointing, did not impact users’ ability to be together. Having a physical space to gather helps prevent social isolation and its negative impact on the health of older adults, she added.

“Why it’s so key for us is because it brings people together,” Rudnicki said. “It allows people a place to gather and to meet friends or to volunteer or to take a class. So it really does impact their feelings of isolation.”

Lisa Kent has volunteered at the North Shore Senior Center for at least six years, working at the shop and lecturing as well.

Kent said she was impressed by how quickly the senior center reorganized. The staff found a new room for the shop, which was decimated by water damage, in less than two weeks. Other on-site activities and services halted only briefly, many shifting online or resuming in person in a modified space by Feb. 10.

“It’s such an important place for so many people, even just for the socialization aspect, having a place to go and people to talk to and activities,” Kent said. “It’s so important that it not be closed for a long period of time, and the fact that they were able to keep that going, I give them real kudos for that.”

While Kent said the shop’s temporary relocation posed some setbacks — such as the inability to access supplies in the old room and having to scale back on fundraising due to limited space — it also offered new opportunities. For example, the accommodations enabled Kent to connect with the sewing bee ladies, who are normally in a separate room.

Walt Polsky, a volunteer of almost two and a half years, had similar praise for the staff’s adaptability in the face of challenges. He said the water damage and reconstruction had “minimal impact” on him and his volunteering.

“I think it was a little disorienting to staff, to volunteers and also to members,” Polsky said; “however, the North Shore Senior Center is so well managed and so well staffed that they had to make changes on the fly, and they just jumped into it.”

Polsky said he is touched by all the work the organization does for the North Shore community. As repairs wrap up, he looks forward to reuniting with everyone in the restored building.

Likewise, Rudnicki said she is grateful for the community support and the generosity of donors who have made this reconstruction possible.

The upcoming Cheers to NSSC event, which Rudnicki anticipates will attract between 400-500 attendees, will serve as a “thank you” to the community. Throughout this process the community has affirmed that the senior center’s place in the North Shore is an important one, she added.

“We’re just really excited for anyone in the community who wants to join us at our Cheers event,” Rudnicki said. “We would love to see people come out, even folks who’ve never been here, to see what we’re all about.”

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