MANKATO — Mary O’Sullivan can pinpoint the day when VINE Faith in Action’s plunge into managing the Summit Center changed from an experiment to a mission.

She was on a pontoon boat on Sleepy Eye Lake this June fishing with a North Mankato couple, Marie and Erv Shafer, who were out on a lake for the first time in years. VINE had partnered with Let’s Go Fishing, a separate group that organizes fishing trips for seniors, and Marie heard about the trip at the Summit Center.

Her 83-year-old husband, Erv, was in a wheelchair, making it difficult to organize fishing trips because most boats don’t accommodate wheelchairs.

“We used to spend a lot of time fishing on Minnesota lakes,” Marie, 76, said. “We were feeling very nostalgic about it.”

The Shafers also remember salmon fishing with a grown child on the Oregon coast.

While it wasn’t deep-sea fishing, Marie said the little sunnies they caught on Sleepy Eye Lake were enough to make them laugh.

“They had everything set up just great for us,” Marie said.

That day helped O’Sullivan make the connection between the Summit Center and VINE’s goal of helping people to care for loved ones.

A year after it began managing the Summit Center, VINE has added classes and, by some accounts, revived the flagging senior center. The United Way, a large donor, saw some problems with the previous management but is happy with the changes VINE has made.

Wet toes

When VINE took over in November of last year, it was a way to “stick our toes in the water,” O’Sullivan said.

Helping older adults stay independent seemed like a good fit, and it has been.

“Now, we’re in it for the long haul,” she said.

Even if, at first, VINE had to rely on volunteers as it figured out what, exactly, it had on its hands.

The first order of business was a physical facelift, largely through volunteer work.

The new Summit Center also abolished its $30 per year membership fees, to make the center more welcoming. There were many seniors who paid the fee but never came, and some who came but didn’t pay.

But perhaps the biggest change has been the addition of new classes.

Among the most popular has been an exercise class, with six sessions per week now and three more planned to begin in January.

It “keeps the joints moving,” participant Gerri Horvat said, plus it’s an excuse to socialize.

And other people pushing you is really the key to staying committed to the program, agreed Eleanor West, another PALS exerciser. She also appreciates VINE taking over at the Summit Center.

“Before, it was just going downhill,” she said.

From tai-chi to theater

From classes in the Chinese art of tai-chi to bike rides to theater trips, the Summit Center is taking a throw-it-against-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks approach.

The slow-motion martial art appears to be popular, while a water exercise class is “waiting to catch on,” O’Sullivan said.

Likewise, while a few core bikers have gone on outings, cycling amateurs appear to be staying away — even though the Summit Center provides the transportation and the bike.

There are plenty of educational offerings as well, including the lunch n’ learn and healthy breakfast series of talks. And an Alcoholics Anonymous group is “bursting at the seams,” O’Sullivan said.

Next month, former state Sen. John Hottinger is scheduled to talk about depression.

The Greater Mankato United Way, a longtime funder of both VINE and the Summit Center, is happy with the transition.

The United Way has consistently given the Summit Center about $69,000 a year, not including an extra $10,000 to help VINE with the transition, President Laura Bowman said.

She acknowledged the United Way believed changes were necessary to the way the Summit Center used to be managed.

But, given VINE’s financial stability and “proven outcomes,” Bowman said the United Way is “absolutely happy with how it’s been going so far.”

Getting their move on?

Still, there are some problems that VINE can’t solve, at least at the current site.

Betty Steffl only recently returned here after knee surgery prevented her from climbing the short but difficult incline from the parking lot. She isn’t the only woman in the exercise group to have her knees replaced, making it difficult to walk up the parking lot.

O’Sullivan said VINE sees itself moving someplace over the next few years to find more room and better access.

Still, the city of Mankato — which chipped in about $50,000 to help operate the Summit Center this year — says that its funding is contingent on the center’s location.

City Manager Pat Hentges said the funding is tied to the Summit Center being a centralized spot for seniors. Staying downtown is another priority.

He said VINE requested $40,000 for its contract with the city for this year, lower than to the $50,000 that used to be the norm. The city decided to spend the $10,000 difference on landscaping the Warren Street entrance to make it more accessible and attractive.

Stairs and a railing would be nice, but VINE is hoping for one addition to change the center into a place where people come just to hang out: a cafe so that people have an excuse to stick around and chat.

Sort of, O’Sullivan said excitedly, like a student union for seniors.