When Modern Maturity Center (MMC) in Dover held the grand opening of its Aurich Pool and Fitness Center on March 17, a team of people who are years too young to be members will have played a key role.
“We had the privilege of working with four young, very bright professionals from the Leadership Delaware Institute (LDI),” explains Carolyn Fredricks, MMC’s President and CEO. “Their input really focused our efforts on revamping our fitness program, attracting and serving more older adults and ultimately strengthening our business position to help ensure this Center’s log term success.
MMC is currently Delaware’s largest senior center serving over 3,500 older adults daily. Last year Fredricks said the staff identified the indoor pool and fitness center as an area that needed attention.
“We also thought about capitalizing on fitness as a way to attract a new audience, particularly pre-retirees with an interest in exercise and fitness. And that would help us towards a larger goal of updating the Center’s image,” Fredericks adds.
At the same time, a non-profit initiative was in development by LDI, a statewide program that identifies and develops young business leaders to strengthen their potential for broader contributions and impact.
“Leadership Delaware is designed to identify, educate, influence and empower our next generation of leaders,” explains Chairman and CEO Terry Strine. “And part of that is to understand and contribute to our non-profit sector.”
Through an identification and matching process that included a speed dating session between LDI and non-profit organizations, MMC was ultimately matched with a group consisting of an attorney, a marketing non-profit executive; a newspaper reporter turned public relations director and a computer industry expert.
“We each put in 35 hours,” estimates Wilmington attorney Anthony DelCollo, 30, who served on the LDI-MMC team. “Carolyn is an enthusiastic leader who was very welcoming so we just really jumped right in, first looking at the Center’s books, operations, facilities and marketing and, of course, engaging with her to really understand the Center.”
Both Carolyn and Anthony recall their joint priority of identifying and attracting a new market segment and to build up the pool and fitness center which seemed to have the greatest potential for drawing in that “younger older” population.
“We recommended engaging the community to identify current perceptions as well as rebranding and marketing the fitness center including the planning of a grand re-opening,” Anthony says. “All that would take funding of course.”
At around the same time, Carolyn says fate stepped in. “MMC received a gift from the Aurich Family $70,000. “In appreciation, the pool and fitness center have been renamed in their honor. That gift allowed us to purchase new equipment, re-deck the pool area and paint and spruce up the entire fitness center. So on Thursday, we officially cut the ribbon on the Aurich Pool and Fitness Center at MMC.”
“For me in particular, this project was a wonderful challenge to work with a team including my LDI colleagues and Carolyn and to come out of my comfort zone,” Anthony says.
“As an attorney, most of my work is in black and white, but this project was about identifying new opportunities, thinking creatively, collaborating and developing a vision.”
Another of the LDI group’s recommendations went into affect earlier this month. “We now have our first TV commercials,” Carolyn says.
“This campaign is very targeted, airing only on channels with a large older adult population, and we’re already hearing a lot of good response. We’re watching our membership numbers to measure the impact.”
And now Carolyn has become an unofficial ambassador for LDI’s annual non-profit partnership project, having spoken to a group of potential partners in support of the 2016 program.
“Working with that team was such a positive experience for us. We had ideas in mind but our thinking kind of exploded with LDI’s input. Almost a year later we’re still developing their ideas and personally missing them too,” she adds.
Members of the LDI team expect to attend this week’s grand opening and re-connect with Carolyn. “We may not be old enough to become members, but I think we’ll always feel invested in the center and its people,” Anthony points out.
