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ABLE Senior Center: Ladies at the ABLE Senior Center enjoy “A taste of Spring” lunch together April 22. ABLE Senior Center provides activities and meals for local seniors.

The Cedar Street Playhouse (above) is a converted historic church in downtown Rolla that is utilized year round by OAT Company, Fine Linen Drama, Stop Making Sense Improv and other area groups for events, full scale theatrical productions,meetings, and weddings. OAT hopes to raise enough funds during Give Ozarks Day to repair the building’s exterior walls that are in need of tuck pointing and resealing.

ST. JAMES—Give Ozarks is a one-day, online fundraising event for agency partners of the Community Foundation of the Ozarks. Using the power of the Cause Momentum crowd-funding website, nonprofits from across southern Missouri will have the chance to raise funds, compete for matches and prizes, and be a part of a one-day surge in generosity across the state. Give Ozarks is scheduled for Tuesday, May 3, 2016.

ABLE Senior Center has chosen to participate in the Give Ozarks 24-hour online fundraising initiative this year for a very good reason.

“Funds raised from the Give Ozarks event will be used for upkeep of the senior center and to continue providing free activities for our seniors,” said Mary Ann O’Connor with ABLE Senior Center.

The ABLE Senior Center is housed in the historical Holloway House, 1008 Holloway St., Rolla. The center offers Bingo, Jeopardy, Let’s make a Deal, card games, foot and nail care, tax services, chair exercises and other events that include trips and luncheons to senior citizens. Seniors pay a reduced rate for an activity.

Upcoming events include a free Mother’s Day Tea May 6 at the Eugene Northern Community Hall where seniors will be treated to a cup of tea and a time to celebrate their mothers with stories and pictures.

The ABLE Senior Center, formerly ABLE Commission, was established over 40 years ago to provide Rolla area senior citizens an opportunity to attend informational and social events. ABLE, “Achieving Better Lifestyles for Elderly, recently changed its name from “ABLE Commission” to “ABLE Senior Center” to better represent the vision and goals of this group. Their mission is “To provide a safe place for our community seniors to come together for resources, information, activities and opportunities for socialization at no or minimal cost to the participant.”

ABLE Senior Center and The Rolla Nutrition Site will be partnering on an open house at the Holloway House from 3 to 7 p.m. on May 3. Pork sandwiches, chips, cookies and water will be available from starting at 4 p.m. and will be served as long as the food lasts.

The Ozark Actors Theatre (OAT), located in down town Rolla, is hoping to raise funds for historical preservation of its theatre and operation of OAT, including tuck pointing and sealing the building’s exterior walls.

The Cedar Street Playhouse, a beautiful historic church that was converted to a theatre, is used year round by OAT Company, Fine Linen Drama, Stop Making Sense Improv and other area groups for events, full scale theatrical productions, meetings and weddings.

The community is well acquainted with the theatre.

“It has become an anchor for the arts in our community,” said Bill Bates, long-time Rolla resident and radio personality.

The arts community that uses the theatre is hoping enough funds will be raised this year, or next year at the latest, to repair the building.

“The building needs improvement and many, many people benefit through this one-day fundraiser,” said Kim Nisbett, founding member of Fine Linen Drama.

OAT volunteers are requesting donations of any amount to help keep this cultural home a vibrant and viable performing arts center for many years to come. Previous donations were used to install new carpet in the lobby and theatre; re-painting and caulking of the three-story tall original stained glass window in the south wall of the building; and weatherproof new panels on the belfry that feature the wonderful comedy and tragedy masks.

To help raise awareness for the Give Ozarks event, OAT will be hosting a celebration at the Playhouse from 5 to 8 p.m. May 3 with wine tasting and free entertainment featuring music groups such as Trilog, Dixie Union and Bliss Hippy; and performances by Stop Making Sense Improv and several local dance groups including StoneCrest Dance Center, Ozark Spirit Cloggers and more.

Electronic giving stations will be available at the event, and donations of cash and checks accepted.

Other nonprofits in the Meramec Region who are participating in Give Ozarks include the Bonebrake Center and Riverways Pregnancy and Family Resource Center, both in Salem; Bourbon Boosters Club, Cuba All Aboard Learning Center, Osage Trail Legacy and Steelville Ministerial Alliance Food Pantry, all in Crawford County; Missouri Rock Island Trail and Missouri Rock Island Trail-Owensville, both in the Owensville area.

May 3 is Give Local America Day when community foundations across the country will be holding similar online fundraising events to boost resources for their local nonprofits encourage new donors and raise awareness of philanthropy in general. Online giving days, a growing movement in the philanthropy field, have raised millions of dollars for nonprofit organizations over the past six years.

Meramec Regional Community Foundation (MRCF), chaired by Rolla banker Wayne Parry, is promoting Give Ozarks. MRCF is an affiliate of the Community Foundation of the Ozarks (CFO), which is hosting Give Ozarks with presenting sponsor BKD Wealth Advisors and platinum sponsors The Musgrave Foundation, The Commerce Trust Co./Coover Charitable Foundation and Ron and Janice Penney. The CFO is a regional public charitable foundation, founded in 1973, which includes 45 affiliate foundations and nearly 600 nonprofit partners and schools.

Give Ozarks nonprofits will be eligible for a number of prizes, based on their success raising funds and also the number of supporters who make online donations on May 3.

ABLE Senior Center: Ladies at the ABLE Senior Center enjoy a Valentine’s Day meal together. ABLE Senior Center provides activities and meals for local seniors.

OAT: The Cedar Street Playhouse (above) is a converted historic church in downtown Rolla that is utilized year round by OAT Company, Fine Linen Drama, Stop Making Sense Improv and other area groups for events, full scale theatrical productions, meetings, and weddings. OAT hopes to raise enough funds during Give Ozarks Day to repair the building’s exterior walls that are in need of tuck pointing and resealing.