 My name is Andrew Booser. I'm the Executive Director of Senior Resources. While I did have a birthday this week, I'm not quite old enough to be a member at the Lori Center, but we're excited to serve the older adults here in Columbia in those over 50. Last August, our boards of the Lori Center and its senior resources unified the two nonprofit organizations under one umbrella. And so this is our first year working together in a formal way. And I want to recognize the board members that are here today. If you're on the board, senior resources or from the Lori Center organization or on the advisory teams that are working, if you just raise your hand so we can recognize you real quickly. Thank you all so much for your energy and time. One of the most exciting new developments in this process has been a renewed energy and partnership with the City of Columbia. Over the last spring and summer, the City Council really encouraged further collaboration between the two organizations in the community. And so today, thanks to the council's support, we have a great announcement that's going to make the city residents more accessible to the Lori Center. Thanks to this new partnership, all senior or all older adults over the age of 50 can have a membership to the Lori Center free of charge. And so we're really excited to offer this. It makes the Lori Center more accessible than ever. So thanks to the city. It's really a great way to keep our older adult community, those who are still working and retirees to make make Columbia a place that that is great for all to live in. And here to speak a little bit, we were honored today to have Mayor Daniel Rickman and Mayor Rickman if you'll come up. I'll turn the mic over to you. Good morning everyone. It's great to see you here. I'm glad I'm getting a free membership because I am one of those people over 50. A proud AARP member as well. But no, we're really excited about it. I think Andrew captured it well when he used the word re-energize because I believe that's what it is because it never went away. But the re-energization of this facility is incredible. And the plans that I've just heard, you know, about the investment that's going to come here, the updating, the programming. And no, you will not see me in the Zumba class because I've seen those ladies. I don't think I could keep up with that crowd in the Zumba class. But no, we're just really excited to be more part of it. And I think there's more things to come. There are more opportunities than there ever been for us to invest in our senior population. And obviously, you know, we have our former Senator Lurie here who this senator is named after. His father, of course, is an incredible individual and gave so much as community. Heather Bauer, Representative, is in the back. Heather, raise your hand so they can see you who has been instrumental in making sure that funding gets here today. So, you know, working together and a collaborative effort. And I think you heard that word from Andrew as well, collaborative. That's how we move forward. So we're excited. Enjoy your membership. Enjoy what's coming. There's a lot more to come. I think Andrew's going to keep having press conferences every other month announcing all the great things, which is exciting. But if we can do anything for anyone, any issues that are up, we're here. Just want you to know that City Council is fully on board and supporting not only the Lurie Center and its new partnership and collaboration, but also we're fully engaged with our community and we want to make sure that you know that you have access to all of us 24-7. I do try to sleep between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m., but other than that, I'll be around. But thank you so much, Andrew. Thank you, Mayor Rickman. As he said, you know, the Lurie Center has really been a part of this community for a long time for over 30 years and it's really continuing a tradition of re-energizing and for this facility it was named after the late Senator Isidore Lurie and we we're honored to continue his legacy today and we're also happy to have his son, Joel Lurie, former Senator and current billboard extraordinaire. I think I've seen him on every billboard from here to Myrtle Beach. And Joel, if you would, if you come up, I'd love for you to make a few comments on how this is important to the Lurie family. Good afternoon. Come on now, we got a lot of active seniors in this room here. We can do better than that. Good afternoon. Much better. Thank you. I just want to thank, first of all, Mayor Rickman for the great support that he and City Council give the Lurie Center. Representative Bowell, I saw you back there. Just, you know, you've done really great work and helped them provide some funding solutions. But I want to take you back. It was about 10 years ago this year, Andrew, about this time that Bob Covell, who used to be former Mayor Bob Covell, who used to be on the board, maybe chairman of the board of something at that time called the Capitol Senior Center. Raise your hand if you remember the Capitol Senior Center. Okay. And Bob came to me and we're old friends, dear friends. In fact, he was when he was in law school, he clerked at my father's law firm. And he said, Joel, we are thinking about rebranding the Capitol Senior Center as the Lurie Center and name it after your late father. My dad, that was 2003, which was, let's say, but no, excuse me, that was 2013, about 10 years after my dad's passing. And he said, what do you think? I said, I am sure that my family would be honored. I just want to run it by my mom and brothers. And of course we were. And we had a great renaming celebration and our family has been very supportive of those efforts to rebrand the Lurie Center. And I think today now, Andrew, with this now becoming under the family of senior resources, is just the next evolution of what this center means for this community, for people of all ages, but particularly 15-older, okay, but for people of all ages. And we're just so excited to be under the umbrella of such a great, great organization like senior resources. A little bit about my dad, the reason they renamed this center for him 10 years ago, he was very much responsible when he was in the Senate and providing a recurring revenue stream to build centers like this all across South Carolina. And nothing warms my heart and out of my family more than to walk in and see so many people here doing such great work. We've got insurance carrier partners, we've got AmeriCorps, we've got AARP, we've got so many things happening here and that's really what he envisioned for a place like this to be. So thank you all for supporting it. Please, if you know people that want to join, please encourage them to join because I really believe the best is yet to come for the Lurie Center. Thank you very much, Andrew. Thank you Joel. We're certainly honored to carry on your father's legacy here. In addition to increased access and partnership that we talked about with the city, we're also excited to announce today that there are going to be improvements to the facility on the horizon with the support of Richland County Council and the Council on Retreat out of town right now and able to be here. But through their community impact grants, we've been able to upgrade a lot of our gem equipment so please take a second to look at those as you're leaving today and have the county council support on that. And importantly, through the state budget request of Representative Bauer last year, the Lurie Center will be able this year to start phase one of what we hope to be a comprehensive renovation. This will upfit the Lurie Center to really fit the needs of today's adults and so we're really excited to save phase one which is the lobby and entrance area and also some improved lighting and other structures here at the Lurie Center and make it ready for us to live into this new chapter of history. So we're very appreciative Representative Bauer and we'd love to have you address the crowd as well but thank you so much for being our advocate of the legislator, one of many, and for the support to make this possible. Well days like today are why exactly I wanted to serve in the state house. It is an absolute honor to serve in the General Assembly representing House District 75 and it's even a bigger honor to advocate for state dollars to help with this project. There's no better feeling than to see dollars go towards such a worthy cause and it really touches my heart and I do believe that together we're making a difference. This work is so important we've heard some of that already today because South Carolina has experienced a rapid growth in the senior population and is even on track for seniors to outnumber the youth for the first time in the history of our state. National studies show one quarter of seniors are socially isolated and lonely leading to health outcomes more dangerous than smoking but it doesn't have to be that way. In places like this the Laurier Center are key examples to how to prevent social isolation and improve health for our aging population. Programs like this also decrease risk for Alzheimer's, dementia, heart disease, and other chronic illnesses. Seniors living in isolation not only lack the quality of life they truly deserve but it also comes at a cost. Older adult isolation results in 6.7 billion in annual Medicare expenditures and $1400 per senior each year to help them stay out of nursing homes. Investing in the health and the well-being of seniors not only improves the quality of life for seniors but it saves taxpayers and decreases health care costs and I know that the Laurier Center is truly the heart of a heart in our community and it holds a special place in many hearts including mine and again this is why I serve and it's truly heart touching to see you know real things dollars go to real projects that help people every day so it's truly an honor. Thank you so much. Thank you Representative Bauer. In closing I think everybody can agree that you can feel the excitement and the energy that's in this building today so now our task moving forward is to make every day like that here at the Laurier Center and so we encourage you to be active here to spread the word in your communities and your circles that the Laurier Center is open for business and ready to serve the older adults in our community if you have suggestions please reach out to us how can we help you and your family better that's what we're here for so please stick around enjoy the great spread provided by Aetna thank you for providing that if you would be interested in joining the membership or coming to Laurier Lectures we've got a table here or at the front lobby as well to help with that so thank you all for coming and we're looking forward to a great 2024. Thank you.