Where to go with the Thompson Center?

Community leaders trying to settle the future of the former Thompson Community Center have scheduled two listening sessions to hear community input on the at least three solutions proposed to deal with the closing of the center’s College Avenue location by Lutheran Social Services last March.

To express your views on the senior and community center, you can appear at one of these two hearings:

• Today, 12:30-2 p.m. at the former Thompson Community Center, 820 W. College Ave.
• Thursday, 6:30-8 p.m.  at the Appleton Public Library in meeting room C.

The Community Foundation is helping in the interim with a $10,000 planning grant awarded in October to hire a part-time project manager for six months. Denise Nelson, a consultant with Magenta Keys LLC, was hired for the position.

Currently on the table:

• Continuing to house the center at the former St. Bernadette Catholic School, where various programs relocated after the closing.
• Land adjacent to Goodwill Industries in Menasha along Valley Road that the nonprofit says it purchased this summer for a senior center.
• Space in a new Appleton Public Library, a project that is still in search of an acceptable location.