WICHITA, Kan. (KMUW) — It’s just about lunch time at the Goddard Senior Center when a familiar face walks in.

Melvin Ormiston is here for a fresh meal and the smiles and conversation that come with it.

“I started coming here about six months ago,” said Ormiston, whose wife passed away last year. “It gets me out of the house, and most of the meals are very good.”

Ormiston is one of thousands of senior center members in Sedgwick County. The centers date back to the early 1980s, when voters approved a ballot initiative by nearly 2-to-1 to fund aging services.

Today, those centers provide services like meals, exercise classes and social events for people 55 and up.

“It gets people out of their recliners and out, and they meet people,” Ormiston said. “And socialization, I think, is always

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