WASHOUGAL — The Washougal Community Center will be closed for eight to 12 weeks, which means Refuel Washougal, the Washougal Senior Association and Meals on Wheels People, Washougal have had to find temporary locations.
The closure is part of the initial phase of the city of Washougal’s Town Center Revitalization Project.
“The team here has done a great job working with those partners to find solutions for temporarily, or in some cases, permanently relocating some of those functions and services,” Washougal City Manager David Scott said.
The remodel of the community center, 1681 C St., includes the interior; replacing exterior windows with a storefront roll-up door and a sectional door; installing an exterior canopy; replacing exterior siding and demolishing two adjacent houses.
“We are thrilled to see the Washougal Town Center Revitalization Project moving forward,” said Michelle Wright, the city’s public works business administrator. “While the demolition and temporary closure may pose challenges, these changes are essential for enhancing community resources and addressing the needs of our growing population.”
The downtown revitalization project will create outdoor community spaces, an off-leash dog park, a pocket park, a splash pad, children’s play elements and improved and expanded public parking, according to the city.
Washougal expects to begin the bidding process for the remainder of the project later this year and begin full-scale construction in January, with the project completed by the end of 2025 or early 2026.
Meals on Wheels scrambles
Meals on Wheels People, Washougal found itself looking for a new home twice in just a few months.
The nonprofit is a Portland-based organization that prepares and delivers meals to dining centers throughout the Portland-Vancouver area. The meals are served to older adults on-site or delivered to those who are homebound.
Chelsea Kyle, the manager of the Washougal group, arranged to move services, which also include a weekly food bank, to The Outpost in Washougal after being notified of the community center’s impending closure.
Kyle learned in September that the Washington Pacific Church of the Nazarene, the Tumwater-based owners of The Outpost, had decided to sell the building and close The Outpost at the end of October.
“I was just shocked,” Kyle said. “To hear that I had to switch things up again left me pretty startled and a little frantic because of the time frame. I didn’t have much time to make other arrangements.”
Kyle quickly pivoted to St. Anne’s Episcopal Church in Washougal.
“I had also been talking to St. Anne’s, and they were really receptive to hosting us,” Hyle said.
Meals on Wheels PeopleWashougal will operate out of The Outpost through Oct. 31, and open at St. Anne’s on Nov. 4. Kyle will use the church as a base to coordinate home deliveries and host weekly food banks from noon to 1 p.m. Mondays in conjunction with the Washougal Senior Association. The group will not serve a weekly lunch, however. “Had we done this months ago, maybe we could have worked it out, but now that we’re changing halfway, it’s just too much.”
Kyle said that she’s looking forward to returning to the renovated community center, which she believes will provide a better experience for her clients. She is managing the temporary changes and grateful for community support.
“We’re trucking along,” she said. “I think things are going pretty OK.”
Washougal Senior Association next steps
Washougal Senior Association members have gathered at the Washougal Community Center for many years to enjoy a variety of daily activities, including ping-pong, billiards, cribbage, pinochle, rock-painting and bingo.
Like Meals on Wheels, the association’s leaders arranged to move the entire operation to The Outpost.
“We were so excited,” said vice president Tanya Irvin. “We knew a week before … that we weren’t going to The Outpost. Then we started scrambling, trying to figure out what we were going to do.”
“We were feeling kind of lost,” Association President Charlie Walker said.
“We were scrambling. But everything now has a place except for ping-pong and billiards,” Irvin said.
The association will operate out of several different buildings for at least the next two months.
Fitness classes will be 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. Mondays at the Camas Community Center, 1817 S.E. Seventh Ave., Camas.
Bingo will be 1 p.m. Wednesdays at the Camas Community Center.
The association’s senior potluck will be 11 a.m. the first Thursday of every month, at the Camas Community Center. Rock-painting and water-coloring sessions will be 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Fridays at the Bethel Community Church, 1438 B St., Washougal.
“It’s only been a week, but so far, things have been good,” Irvin said. “This is what happens a lot of the time in small communities — people want to help other people out. That’s the way it should be.”
Refuel Washougal moves to St. Anne’s
Refuel Washougal, a nonprofit that provides free weekly meals and shelter in severe weather, has also temporarily moved to St. Anne’s.
Fran Whitmeyer, a Refuel board member and former St. Anne’s senior warden, said the church has been very welcoming.
“I talked to Annie (Calhoun), and she brought it up immediately to the bishops’ committee, which is the ruling body of St. Anne’s,” Whitmeyer said. Calhoun, the vicar of the church, and the bishops said Refuel’s mission was an important one to support. “St. Anne’s has a fairly large parish hall, and we’re using about half of it.”
The guests are dealing with “a few different rules that we didn’t have before,” Whitmeyer said. The changes may cause a few issues, but the group is trying to make the best of the situation.
“Because we have changed, there will be people with problems,” she said. “Because we’re at a church, there are people that have a problem with that.”
Whitmeyer said Refuel isn’t doing to-go meals anymore, a permanent change.
“They just have to come inside and sit down and eat. And because it’s a tighter quarters than the community center, people are getting to know new people, so that’s a plus.”
The volunteers also have new rules to follow, including restrictions on certain types of food and a smaller area for food preparation, Whitmeyer said.
Refuel, which serves meals from 4 to 6 p.m. Fridays, opened at St. Anne’s on Sept. 13 and served 54 people, a decrease from the normal 100 to 120.
Whitmeyer said she is looking forward to going back to the Washougal Community Center after the renovations.
“My understanding is that they will not be doing anything in the kitchen, so the kitchen will be the same when we get back. We are very lucky to have a commercial kitchen to serve the community out of,” she said.
