Barnesville Senior Center Welcomes New Leaders
Barnesville Senior Center has a new coordinator and center assistant to lead the seniors in activities, trips and day-to-day operations.
Nik Sells became the new center coordinator at the end of April following the retirement of Kay Driscoll who led the center since 2018. Meanwhile, Kindra Blackstone became the assistant coordinator in August of 2024—claiming a new position at the Barnesville Senior Center.
Every other senior center in the county has an assistant coordinator position, except for Barnesville—until now.
Sells worked in the kitchen in the Belmont County Senior Services in St. Clairsville for seven years before being named Barnesville coordinator.
He has lived in Barnesville his whole life and wanted to be a part of the community, he said.
Blackstone also worked for the Belmont County Senior Services but as a medical driver. She said when the opportunity came up she applied because it was closer to her Jerusalem home.
Blackstone and Sells said there was a need for the position because when Driscoll was coordinator, she was constantly driving and not spending much time with the seniors. They added this position for balance so there is someone at the center when it is open.
Both Sells and Blackstone run the day-to-day operations coming up with activity ideas, going on trips, driving seniors, completing paperwork and more.
“The center is a place where we would like seniors to visit, spend time together, do activities and go on trips,” Sells said.
Usually between three to six seniors visit the center each day, drinking coffee and visiting. The Senior Services Lunch is served every day at 11:30 a.m. during the week. Seniors usually follow a routine of activities that are planned out each month. Sells said he likes to keep the seniors busy and find fun activities for them.
He added he is trying to keep the routines the seniors have enjoyed and slowly add new ones such as visiting other centers in the county and finding educational forms of enjoyment.
Every month, the seniors host a dinner that is open to the community to raise funds to operate the center. Next month’s dinner will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. , Wednesday, July 9 featuring spaghetti and meatballs.
Sells said he and Blackstone are trying to get more people from the community involved at the senior center.
Seniors must be 60 years or older to join. All services at the center are free for members. The center is open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Monday through Friday at 229 E Main St.
Blackstone said she enjoys spending time with the seniors because they are really the ones who keep it open and running.
Sells said. “It’s really cool being part of this community because I grew up here. My grandma comes in. My family is getting to the age where they can start to come in too. I really would like this to be a part of the community, a place where a lot of things happen.”
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