The Senior Wellness Center at Schnitzelburg has apparently dodged a financial bullet.

The $55,000 in Louisville Metro funds necessary to keep the center open has been restored to Mayor Jerry Abramson’s proposed budget. That means the center with the long name — it’s officially known as the Ministries United of South Central Louisville (MUSCL) Senior Wellness Center at Schnitzelburg — will not have to close its doors.

“As far as we know, they’ve restored the entire $55,000,” Brad Castleberry, the center’s director, said last Friday, June 26. “The new budget was approved (by the Louisville Metro Council) on Thursday night.”

That has resulted in a sigh of relief — and the return of grins — to the faces of those who guide the center and those who receive its services, Castleberry said.

“There’s a lighter attitude, more spirit and more smiles than there were just a few days ago,” he added. “Now people are all saying that we have to get going again, get back to planning our programs and services.”

The situation looked dire earlier this month when the mayor’s initial 2010 fiscal year budget was announced. The $55,000 necessary to keep the two-year-old center up and running wasn’t included in the $485 million proposed general fund.

Louisville Metro Councilman Jim King, Anne Smith, the executive director of MUSCL, Castleberry and others began a drive to keep the center open once the budgetary problems were known. A petition with more than 1,200 signatures supporting the center was presented to the Metro Council’s budget committee, and King and other council members expressed strong support for the work of the senior center.

In the end, the Metro Council put the $55,000 back into the budget, and the Schnitzelburg center had its future restored.

For his part, Castleberry couldn’t be happier.

“We’re really appreciative of the fact that the city has understood that we deal with a very under-served population” of seniors, he said. “They understand that this is the wrong time to be closing down services that have been growing for the past two years.”

The center, located in the former St. Elizabeth School at 1016 E. Burnett Ave., offers a panoply of services and programs for the elderly. There are weekly bingo games, exercise and nutrition classes, regular card games, arts, crafts, aerobics, knitting, needlepoint — you name it.

And now that the center’s future is relatively assured — the mayor could still veto parts of the budget, but Castleberry said he thinks funds for the center are relatively secure — its programs and classes are likely to grow.

“We won’t be expanding our hours, but there are a lot of community organizations now who’ve made contact with us and who are interested in expanding their work here,” Castleberry said. “Jewish Family and Career Services has a special grant that allows them to pay a person to come to our center and present classes in personal health. And both U of L (University of Louisville) and Bellarmine (University) are interested in expanding their involvement with us, too.”

None of that expansion costs the center; the schools and agencies willing to provide additional services there pay those costs.

“Everything just looks a whole lot brighter for us now,” Castleberry added.