LARSO annual meetings spotlight Los Alamos County senior services
LARSO’s annual meeting put board seats, meal service and rides in focus, as county leaders backed a senior network that served thousands in Los Alamos and White Rock.
Older adults who rely on meals, rides and a place to gather got a reminder Friday that LARSO’s board helps decide how senior services in Los Alamos County are run. At the Betty Ehart Senior Activity Center, board president Jerry Fleming, executive director Ramon Garcia and County Council Chair Randall Ryti stood together around the county’s Older Americans Month proclamation, with a Frito pie lunch underscoring that this was about daily services as much as ceremony.
The meeting also spotlighted the county’s two-hub senior system. LARSO runs both the Betty Ehart center at 1101 Bathtub Row and the White Rock Senior Center, and its board alternates monthly meetings between the two sites. Members are welcome at those sessions to hear about leadership and key initiatives, but the annual member meeting carries extra weight because that is where members vote on board seats. Board members serve three-year terms.
That governance matters because LARSO is the nonprofit backbone for the county’s senior activity centers, which Los Alamos County places within its Community Services Division. The county says five local nonprofit groups operate under mutually beneficial annual contracts, a structure that ties LARSO’s daily work to county policy, budgets and oversight. LARSO describes the centers as gathering places for adults 55 and older, with fitness rooms, computer labs, libraries, billiards and game rooms open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Classes are free for members, with a $5 donation suggested.
The scale of that operation is larger than a casual club. LARSO’s FY23-24 figures showed membership up by 208 people, 7,161 congregate meals served at Betty Ehart and 5,903 at White Rock, plus 13,585 home-delivered meals in Los Alamos and 7,535 delivered to White Rock residents. The organization also recorded 3,662 unique activity visits across both centers, evidence that the senior network reaches far beyond board rooms and lunch tables.
That is why the annual meeting matters for older residents and caregivers who depend on transportation, meals, programming and companionship. A 2025 funding-cut crisis put sharper attention on the group’s finances, and the board says it works to secure the staff, funds and support needed to keep the doors open. For seniors in Los Alamos and White Rock, the board seats decided at the annual meeting help shape whether those services remain stable in the year ahead.
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