No doubt about it, the role of the Snoqualmie Valley’s senior centers is about to grow.

As the “Baby Boomer” generation ages, the ranks of the nation’s senior citizens will expand. Staff at local centers know that a surge is coming, and are doing their best to prepare in spite of a challenging financial situation.

When King County Executive Dow Constantine visited the Valley last week, he was greeted in Carnation by Amara Oden, the executive director of the Sno Valley Senior Center. Oden was present to emphasize to Constantine the importance of readying now for a growing senior population.

Oden said state budget cuts have made it harder for seniors to get transportation to needed services. Combine that with a lack of senior housing in the Valley, and seniors face real challenges in continuing to live here.

County funding to Carnation’s center, as well as the Mount Si Senior Center in the Upper Valley, is expected to drop to nothing in the next year. It’s potentially the worst time for budget cuts — the first of the boomer generation turn 64 years old this year.

“If they cut back on the services they have, they are never going to catch up,” said Mount Si Senior Center Director Ruth Tolmasoff. “We really need to be ramping up.”

For Tolmasoff, the cuts are a double whammy, hitting at the same time as a bad economy. Many older Americans are retiring early, and are still caring for their own parents, who are in their 90s.

Meanwhile, federal aid that helps small businesses doesn’t do much good for non-profits like the local centers.

Senior centers are meant to be the community’s safety net — but the safety net now has big holes.

Oden knows the county is strapped, but is seeking help in kind, such as staff resources. Assistance with human resource duties and health insurance would be a big help for folks like her.

Seniors centers are doing their best to expand their local mission. At Mount Si, more goes on than just dominoes. The center promotes exercise and art classes, trips, dances and dinners, and is pondering more evening and weekend classes and events to draw boomers.

Aging doesn’t mean giving up meaningful lives. Our local senior centers’ primary mission is connecting our older residents, nourishing them, keeping them healthy, and giving them new social outlets — new hobbies to try, new friends to meet.

“It’s a great time to try all the things we always wanted to,” Tolmasoff said.

You can check out the Mount Si Senior Center and its services at an open house, 2 p.m. Wednesday, March 10. Mount Si Senior Center is located at 411 Main Ave. S., North Bend.

Or, check out the Sno Valley Senior Center anytime, at 4610 Stephens Ave., downtown Carnation.

• E-mail Valley Record Editor Seth Truscott at editor@valleyrecord.com.