Republic Senior Center hires new lead in Wilson

The Republic Senior Center has a new senior center lead following the hiring of Ben Wilson in mid-September.
Wilson started off his work with senior citizens at the South Side Senior Center as an assistant cook before being promoted to lead cook and then to senior center lead (or SCL) at the Ozark Senior Center. He was in charge of both Ozark and Nixa before making the move to Republic to be both culinary lead and SCL.
The job of SCL is mostly administrative, said Wilson; that includes a lot of paperwork and reporting to the state. But it’s important to him to communicate with the people at the senior center and build rapport.
Wilson obtained the job when he was asked to move to the new center from Ozark because it was believed he would be a good fit. The Republic Senior Center was in need of both an SCL and a culinary lead, something he had much practice in, so he took the job and is now wearing both hats for the senior citizens of Republic.
According to Wilson, his care for the seniors makes him a good fit for this new role.
“I have a lot of compassion and empathy for people, and I try to listen to people’s needs and really identify with them and do my best to make sure those needs are taken care of, whatever they are,” Wilson said.
With his new position, Wilson hopes to bring about growth for the senior center, saying they already serve meals to many but that higher attendance is always a good thing.
“What I’d like to do is to get the word out [about] how we can help people [and] the meals that we serve,” said Wilson. “I’d like to see our numbers increase ... getting people in here to eat lunch and be a part of the community would be fantastic.”
He believes that his new position is important, as the senior center serves an important role in the community.
“I think that with the seniors, it gives people a chance to get out of their houses and meet with other people [and] not be isolated, you know,” said Wilson. “They can come in here, and there are a lot of different programs to do, like exercises and cards and puzzles, and we play bingo on Mondays.”