For the past 40 years, area senior citizens have had a place to call their own.

It’s a place they can come to eat, exercise, build friendships and much more.

“It’s a place they can come to receive the things that are necessary for a happy and productive life,” Executive Director Sabrena Bartley said.

The Natchez Senior Citizen Multi-purpose Center is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. Bartley, who has been director for 14 years, said the center’s mission since its inception has been to provide a place and services that would help the area’s senior population thrive.

The center, Bartley said, has positively impacted families in the community for 40 years by lessening the responsibility of family members who care for their elderly relatives.

“From the very beginning, it was designed to make life better for older (residents), and it helps each generation when we do that,” Bartley said.

Natchez-Adams County Council on Aging member Thomas McNeely has served on the council, which provides services for seniors at the center, for approximately 30 years.

In that time, McNeely said he has seen the tremendous impact the center has on the community.

Providing transportation to seniors through the Natchez Transit System has been a key part of that impact, McNeely said.

“When I came on board, transportation was provided out of Meadville, and it was through the planning and development district,” he said. “We were able to have the transportation moved to Natchez-Adams County, and from there, it has grown to serve several communities.”

McNeely said it says a lot about a community when a senior center can thrive for 40 years.

“It shows there is a lot of public support because we rely heavily on donations,” he said. “The community has really opened its arms to the senior center.”

The senior center’s services include adult day care, home delivery service for meals, meals provided on-site at the center, elderly and disabled transportation, fitness and educational programs and more. The center serves more than 400 residents, and it and the Natchez Transit System employ 42 people.

The City of Natchez recently decided to apply for grant funding to build a satellite senior center at North Natchez Park.

Bartley said she believes the next 40 years will hold great things for the senior center.

“I know that every day I am there as executive director there is a difference made in the lives of seniors at the hands of me and my staff,” she said. “That gives me peace, and it gives me joy.”