After more than 30 years as a source of information and community connections for older adults, Senior Media Services, the program that publishes Senior Scene and Where to Turn, will close effective June 30. This edition of Senior Scene is the last one, and there will be no more Where to Turn beyond the current 2024-25 edition. Our website, seniorscene.org, also is ending.
The difficult decision to close the program was made by Lutheran Community Services Northwest, the non-profit social services agency that includes Senior Media. The decision is due to challenges of maintaining long-term financial viability of the program and its two publications. Their popularity and the demand for them have remained high, but the financial headwinds are just too strong to continue.
The monthly Senior Scene, focused on readers 55 and older, began 32 years ago and has been informing about 26,000 readers each month in Pierce County and King County with news and features. Where to Turn, an annual directory of community resources for older adults and their families, began 28 years ago in Pierce County. Separate annual editions for King County and Kitsap County were added in 2015 and 2017, respectively. Combined, the three Where to Turn editions are used by an estimated 100,000 people each year.
Giving older adults easy access to information to help them lead healthy, informed and meaningful lives (nurturing mind, body and soul, as we liked to call it) has been our mission since the 1990s. We are eternally grateful for the loyal support we’ve received along the way from the people and organizations who made this all possible: Advertisers, readers, the 722 locations where Senior Scene and Where to Turn were distributed, and our volunteers who drove hundreds of miles each month to deliver Senior Scene to many of those locations and helped in many other ways.
It has been our great privilege to be part of the communities we’ve served. Thank you to everyone who has been part of this journey. Take care.
Pat Jenkins, Senior Media program manager and editor