By Greg Grisolano

ggrisolano@joplinglobe.com

WEBB CITY, Mo. — The Webb City Senior Center is seeking donations so it can replace deteriorating cabinets in the kitchen. The center hopes to raise $3,000 during an auction fund-raiser on Saturday.

The center, at 210 N. Pennsylvania Ave., prepares meals for about 200 seniors in the Webb City area, according to director Mary Mitchell.

She said the cabinets were installed in 1983 when the center was built, and they are deteriorating from years of wear.

“It’s the cabinets, countertops, sinks — the whole works,” she said. “Everything needs to be replaced.”

The project is expected to cost $9,000. The center has worked out an agreement to split the cost among itself, the city of Webb City and the Area Agency on Aging, which oversees the operations of senior centers in the region.

Mitchell said the center managed to raise about $1,200 of its share since the fund-raising drive began Feb. 6, and she hopes Saturday’s auction will help the group reach its goal.

The auction is scheduled to run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the senior center.

Carl Brandon, a member of the senior center’s advisory board, said the cabinets are becoming a health concern.

“They’re starting to fall apart,” he said. “The back of one of the sinks is rotting out. It’s difficult to keep the mold out of there.”

Brandon said the center is looking to replace the cabinets with vinyl-coated ones that have solid tops instead of Formica.

“We’d like to upgrade to a type of cabinet that’s been approved by the health department,” he said. “They have a vinyl-type coating that’s easier to keep clean, and the solid tops are also more durable.”