The Salem Community Activity Center has a new Executive Director.
Salem Community High School and Bradley University graduate Emily Wilzbach has been hired to replace Trish Marshall who held the job for five years before recently moving to another job.
Wilzbach notes she had attended academic competitions and Girl Scouts when she was growing up and now she’ll be involved in operating the center for the community.
“I was really interested in the events themselves. I think it’s a really great creative outlet and I like organizing things. I’m really looking forward to when we can open the Community Center back up and get the community themselves back in here.”
Wilzbach says next year is a special one for the center.
“This is going to be the 40th anniversary of the Community Center so hopefully in the summer when things are open we can do a really big celebration for that because I think that’s a pretty big anniversary and I find that exciting.”
Right now, fund raising is at the top of the list since the center is shutdown to almost all activities including Bingo and rentals that bring in most of their revenue.
Wilzbach will be working with Marshall on a business interruption grant in the next few days in hopes of getting money to keep the center operating during the shutdown period. Both say donations to help keep the center afloat during the pandemic are still key. Marshall says she will remain available to Wilzbach as she learns the operation of the center.
Wilzbach had gone to Los Angeles after graduating to help run Bradley’s Hollywood internship program but that had been shut down by the pandemic as well.
We’ll talk to Trish Marshall about her time at the Community Activity Center and her new job on the Monday news.
