The four senior centers on O'ahu, which provide services aimed at keeping seniors active and out of nursing homes, are cutting back programs and staff and grappling with how to keep their doors open after failing to secure rainy-day funds from legislators.

"We are going into dire straits," said Stella Wong of Catholic Charities Hawai'i, which operates the Lanakila Multi-purpose Senior Center in Kalihi. Lanakila is looking at paring back programs and considering other options as it faces a $200,000 shortfall in the coming fiscal year.

The situation follows years of struggle for the senior centers. State grants-in-aid have been cut and funding through the Department of Health — which has historically gone to two of the centers — has remained flat since 2003, officials say. The centers serve about 4,000 mostly low- to moderate-income seniors with activities and help signing up for services.

Without the rainy-day money, senior centers say they're worried about the future.

"I don't know how much longer we can do this," said Jill Kitamura, senior center program director at the Mo'i- li'ili Community Center. The senior center is facing a $30,000 deficit this fiscal year, which ends in June, and needs to raise about $180,000 to make it through the next fiscal year. She said she is considering cutting back on employee hours.

"If I do that," she said, "it will mean fewer services."

INDEPENDENT LIVING

Advocates say the centers have become a vital resource for keeping seniors living independently as long as possible, providing them with social interaction and linking them up with programs that can help them get by on their own for as long as possible.

As baby boomers age, the demand for the senior centers will probably grow. "The ideal thing that seniors want is to be able to age in place," said Barbara Kim Stanton, AARP state director. "The senior centers are one of those vital links."

The centers differ from adult daycare programs, which are meant for those who have difficulty taking care of themselves and need more structure, including guaranteed meal service and daylong supervision by paid caregivers. At senior centers, the elderly can come for an hour or for the day. They participate in aerobics or 'ukulele classes, sit in on workshops or take field trips.

Senior centers also help families, advocates say, by educating them on the services and options available when the elderly can no longer live on their own. "The senior centers are the first line of defense" for keeping seniors independent longer, Stanton said. "That's where the seniors go first before" nursing homes or daycare.

MORE CUTS COMING

No one is being turned away from the senior centers, but several warned that could be a possibility if their financial situations don't improve. They are looking at scaling back programs and cutting staff, although all the centers said they are already short-staffed.

"We are concerned about how we're going to continue to serve the elderly population in our community," said Joan Naguwa, executive director of the Waikiki Community Center, where wages have been slashed and programs cut to avert a deficit.

The center also stopped funding a social worker, who helped seniors learn about the programs they're eligible for and filled out paperwork for them, including for Medicaid and food stamps. Naguwa said the reductions already made probably aren't the last.

Jerry Rauckhorst, Catholic Charities president and chief executive officer, said he is searching for other grants and funding sources to make ends meet at Lanakila. The center has only three full-time and one part-time employee and can't lay off anyone else if it keeps the same number of members. Still, Rauckhorst said he is committed to keeping the center open. "I have a confidence that we're going to be able to do it," Rauckhorst said, adding it won't be easy. "It's going to be very, very tough," he said.

NO GRANTS-IN-AID

Lanakila is the largest senior center, serving about 2,000 people older than 60.

It usually gets about $123,000 annually from the state Department of Health, which officials said would likely not change in the coming fiscal year. The state also funds Mo'ili'ili Community Center, with about $107,000 annually. The centers in Waikiki and Kapahulu get no Health Department funding. Meanwhile, grants-in-aid for the centers were cut last fiscal year.

None were awarded this fiscal year either because of the financial crunch.

Without grants-in-aid, the centers have been trying — with bake sales, bazaars and by reaching out to members and their families — to raise donations. In December, Lanakila put out a desperate call for help, hoping to raise $100,000 to make it through the end of June.

They were able to do that, thanks to several large donations and lots of small ones. Now, Lanakila and the other senior centers are hoping donors will come through for them again after they were unable to get rainy-day funds from the Legislature. The funds were zeroed out in the last days of the session because of other fiscal priorities, legislators said.

Altogether, the centers were asking for $682,000.

DONATIONS SOUGHT

State Sen. Suzanne Chun Oakland, D-13th (Kalihi, Nu'uanu), chairwoman of the Human Services Committee, said she was disappointed the funding fell through and is now looking for ways to help the facilities raise community donations. She said it will be tough getting money amid the financial crisis, as people scale back their giving.

If things stay the same, she said, "I don't think they can survive for too much longer."

The senior centers have members ranging in age from their 60s to their 90s. In addition to getting, members give — through volunteering of all sorts and by raising money for other benefits. Classes at the centers are kept cheap — some as little as $1.25 — because many of those who go to senior centers are on fixed incomes.

"We are supportive of senior centers," said Noemi Pendleton, director of the state Executive Office on Aging. "We hope they can find other resources" to make it through the tight fiscal times, she said.

At the Mo'ili'ili Community Center last week, upbeat 'ukulele strumming could be heard drifting out of a classroom on the first floor. Inside, about 25 seniors were playing and singing along with an instructor. Upstairs, a group of seniors learned the art of Japanese braiding. And on the third floor, about 50 women gathered for a seniors aerobics class.

Alice Nagle, one of the 'ukulele students, said she's been coming to the center for a decade, ever since her husband died. The 87-year-old can't think of a better way to spend her day. "This place has been a godsend to an awful lot of people. To me, it's been a godsend," she said, tearing up. "I'm going to cry. It means everything to me."