Walking into SWIRCA & More’s legacy building, there’s an atmosphere of joy. Someone shouts “Bingo!” from the activity center, the University of Evansville Silver Aces older adult dance team practices for an upcoming men’s basketball game, women in the conversation lounge play gin rummy, and a group exercise instructor demonstrates the next move. Inside, it’s constantly bustling, and for good reason: Census data from 2025 indicates there were around 71,290 residents 65 and older in SWIRCA’s six-county service area, a population that is expected to expand rapidly across the country. A recent expansion and renovation at the senior center’s campus is designed to accommodate a rapidly rising population.
“Everything changes so quickly,” says Randall K. Craig, a retired attorney who specialized in elder law, estate planning, and probate. He has been involved with SWIRCA for more than 30 years and now serves as an emeritus board director. “SWIRCA is an organization that adapts well to challenges. … We need to prepare for the future.”
The Southwestern Indiana Regional Council on Aging & More serves Gibson, Perry, Posey, Spencer, Vanderburgh, and Warrick counties. It reaches urban and rural areas, serving residents 50 and older, disabled people, and their caretakers. The nonprofit is part of Area Agencies on Aging, established by the reauthorization of the Older Americans Act in 1973. Founded that same year and incorporated in 1974, SWIRCA’s leadership and board identified a need for an expansion in 2019.
“We want to create programs that older adults in our community want to be involved in, to create a better and fuller life for them,” says SWIRCA’s 16-year President Rhonda Zuber, but strained capacity had been standing in the way.
At the aging and disability resource center, counselors offer guidance on senior adult assistance. For a suggested annual donation of $30, members can access the activity and wellness center for exercise classes like yoga, tai chi, line dancing, and strength and toning workouts. Meals on Wheels of Southwestern Indiana operates out of SWIRCA’s kitchen and served 120,410 meals in 2025. The organization’s care coordination and management services provide assessments, service plans, and home assistance. The nonprofit also offers in-home assistance, repairs, modifications, specialized medical equipment, emergency response buttons, and pest control, as well as transportation and vehicle customizations.
As SWIRCA’s services grew, so did demand. It already was stretched thin; without more room to operate, the nonprofit would outpace its services three to one by 2026.
“The goal was not to interrupt any kind of services going on (but) renovating and expanding while continuing service requires immense dedication,” says Monica Spencer, SWIRCA’s development director of nine years.
THE AGE OF EXPANSION
SWIRCA’s most recent annual report states that 67,797 people age 65 and older lived in Gibson, Perry, Posey, Spencer, Vanderburgh, and Warrick counties in 2024 — up from 48,896 in 2010. Each county’s senior population hovers around 20 percent, but in Posey County, residents over age 65 make up nearly a quarter of the population. The senior population in Southwestern Indiana is expected to grow 38 percent from 2010’s total to 79,706 people by 2030. That’s before considering the disabled and caregiver populations: Census data indicates there were around 39,490 disabled people under the age of 65 in SWIRCA’s coverage area in 2024. AARP data shows there are more than 1.2 million caregivers in Indiana — 24 percent of the state’s adult population — and most care for adults.
The COVID-19 pandemic made the necessity to increase services even more apparent after the center was closed for a year, leaving many seniors without a social network or services. A 2023 U.S. Surgeon General advisory on social connection and community compares the negative health effects of isolation to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Zuber often draws on her own experiences from watching her grandfather navigate Alzheimer’s and the effect it had on her grandmother. When the center reopened in June 2021, area residents streamed back in. “There was a line out the front door,” Zuber says.
With the need for more room becoming apparent, in 2021, SWIRCA commissioned a feasibility study by Indianapolis-based consulting firm Vitruvian, LLC. The center’s leadership also visited similar programs and spoke with local and state nonprofits. Launched in late 2022, the Building Engagement capital campaign aimed to raise $5 million for the renovation of SWIRCA’s legacy building, plus construction of a new building on its campus at 16 W. Virginia St. More than $4 million has been raised so far, including $300,000 from Vanderburgh County and $500,000 from the federal government’s American Rescue Plan Act.
LA+D designed and ARC Construction Co. Inc. built the Sol and Arlene Bronstein Foundation Center next to SWIRCA’s legacy building; it’s named for the late businessman and his wife. In 1985, attorney Howard Trockman realized the Bronsteins’ dream of creating a retirement community and was the first CEO of Solarbron; after his death in 2001, his son, Vanderburgh County Superior Court Judge Wayne Trockman, took over. When the retirement community was sold in 2014 to CarDon & Associates, the money from the sale was invested in an Old National Wealth Management trust specifically to benefit the elderly. That trust is administered by Old National and co-trustee Trockman, and it was a major source of funding for the construction of the new center.
“SWIRCA is right in our wheelhouse,” Trockman, who toured the new facility throughout the construction process, says. “It’s filling a very important gap in the area of elder care. The organization will be able to more effectively engage with seniors and improve and expand its services. Quality of life issues as they relate to seniors are an obligation for all of us.”
The first floor of the Bronstein Center offers counseling rooms for consultations with caregivers, families, and individuals. The break room allows staff to step away from their desks, and Zuber says there is space for employee engagement activities. Lifelong learning initiatives, including digital and financial literacy and job readiness for retired seniors reentering the workforce, are available in the technology lab via computers provided by AT&T and iPads from Lieberman Technologies. Lieberman plans to teach computer literacy classes at SWIRCA’s Healthy Aging Campus, and Ivy Tech Community College Evansville is working with SWIRCA to offer additional classes. A caregiver library houses resources for providing involved care for adults and children and understanding terminology, science, and support available. The Bronstein Center has been in use since August 2025, with small decorative additions. Cool colors match the blue in the organization’s logo.
“Everyone is loving the new programs and design of the building,” Spencer says. “For too long, aging has been viewed as a decline. We want to support individuals along their entire journey.”
A NEW LOOK — AND OMA’S COOKING
Renovations to the legacy building included expanding the Activity and Wellness Center so exercise classes, gatherings, presentations, and social activities can take place simultaneously. Just off that space are a billiards room and the Ascension St. Vincent conversation lounge, where seniors often play card games like Mahjong and clabber. Seeing guests engage with programs and each other, “you cannot help but walk through there with a smile on your face,” Zuber says. The expanded exercise room added equipment, including treadmills, ellipticals, stationary row machines and bikes, and weights. Other improvements include an expanded lobby, upgraded bathrooms, and more accessible entryways. The new space and renovations also allow community partners more opportunities to work with SWIRCA, including county councils on aging, health systems Ascension and Deaconess, Evansville Wartime Museum, Carver Community Organization, Southwestern Behavioral Healthcare, and Young & Established. Health care students from the University of Southern Indiana and University of Evansville observe and interact with seniors as part of their classroom learning.
“What inspires me is seeing our guests filled with laughter and conversation,” Spencer says. “I’m amazed by everything we’ve accomplished.”
The opening of Oma’s Cafe, an expansion of the center’s meal service offering breakfast and lunch to the public, is generating the most excitement. Owensboro, Kentucky-based distributor CRS OneSource has provided food to SWIRCA since the 1980s, and when presented with an opportunity to partner on a restaurant, President Alan Clark and Vice President Derek Clark jumped in. Inspired by their late mother, Janice Clark, whose seven grandchildren affectionately called her “Oma,” the Clarks wanted to create a comfortable environment and home-style meals. “The whole point is, grandmas are the backbone of many families. So in that sense, everyone can relate to the name Oma,” Derek says.
“SWIRCA wanted to refresh and modernize the atmosphere around their current meal service that they offer. It is one of Evansville’s best-kept secrets. We hope that this beautiful new space will allow many more people to discover all the great things happening at SWIRCA while at the same time honoring our mother’s name and loving legacy,” adds Alan.
Expected to open in August, Oma’s Cafe will welcome diners from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday-Friday. Every meal purchased by the public provides a meal to a senior, allowing the public to easily aid SWIRCA’s efforts.
There will be sandwiches and light lunch fare alongside a menu offered by SWIRCA. “(Our mother) loved homestyle comfort food like meat loaf and mashed potatoes, sausage and sauerkraut, and beans and cornbread. The menu will also have some more trendy items to attract the young professionals who live and work near SWIRCA,” Derek says.
“I’m really looking forward to expanding our services to the public, including Oma’s, and matching people with the services they need,” emeritus board director Craig says. “This expansion will open opportunities we can’t anticipate yet. I have been involved in numerous charitable and Christian organizations over my more than 50-year legal career. … I have never seen any organization that helps more people and does more and more with less than SWIRCA.”
The impact already is being felt. Spencer has noticed seniors coming in with brighter smiles, more willing to engage with their fellow guests. “There is a sense of possibility that the campus has created. Seniors who were closed in before are opening up. People have immediately embraced the space,” she says.
“This expansion and renovation is life changing for older adults in our community,” Zuber adds. “When it’s an idea in your head, that is one thing, but seeing it come to life is something else.”
