History
Looking to Our Future
The Little House, formerly used as an adult day care facility by Tuolumne County, is a small house with a studio and activity center, located at the corner of Merrell Road and Highway 120 in Groveland. For the first time, SSSI had a facility through which it could offer programs and services.
With a $50,000 grant from the Sonora Area Foundation came an outpouring of volunteer help, most notably from the
Groveland Rotary. The needed improvements and repairs were completed, and The Little
House welcomed its first visitors in the spring of 2009.
The Little
House represents a step forward in providing a place for senior activities
within the community, while the vision of a larger facility, envisioned by the SSSI founders, remains strong.
After extensive site evaluations, the SSSI Board of
Directors entered
into a long-term lease agreement with the Groveland Community
Services District (GCSD) for a parcel of land located on Ferretti Road, directly across from the main entrance to the Pine Mountain Lake development.
The Agreement spans 30 years and requires a nominal annual lease payment. The successful land acquisition agreement represented a critical achievement for The Gathering Place, removing the land cost acquisition from a long list of funding requirements for the project.
Our vision for a larger facility remains strong, but our passion lives today within the welcoming walls of The Little House.
We
are a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization, governed by a Board of Directors. Revenue comes from generous donations from members of our local
community and through grants and fundraisers.
Southside Senior Services, Inc. (SSSI) was founded in 1984 by a group of dedicated local citizens who identified the need for a senior center to provide services to active adults living in the greater Groveland and Big Oak Flat area.
Fundraising for the senior center was primarily accomplished through sale of See’s Candy, and was supplemented by gifts and donations from local citizens and businesses.
In 2002, SSSI sponsored a Community Visioning project to reach out and involve the community. More than 80 people participated in this planning process, resulting in the development of a broad outline of activities and services that would serve as the core programs of our future active adult center.
The SSSI Board envisioned a larger facility, originally called The Gathering Place, which reflected the mission of developing a place where active adults could gather and “where no one is a stranger.”
While planning for The Gathering Place proceeded, the SSSI Board completed a ten-year lease agreement with Tuolumne County for what has become known as The Little House.
