Inside the protests dividing the Redding Senior Center

Members of the Redding Senior Center are protesting. 

Signs calling for member voting right protection were first waved in front of the center last Thursday, and they’ve been back every morning since. While the faces of protesters change daily, depending on who is available, their message is the same: protect the ability of members to vote on the governance of, and activities provided, by the center. 

It’s a right they say is being threatened by the center’s President, Julie Hudec, who has proposed changes to bylaws that would “eliminate statutory voting membership,” according to a draft of bylaws shared by a center member. Hudec has defended herself against those accusations, saying members haven’t been interested in voting for years, and the concerns being raised by a few do not reflect the views of most members. 

She’s temporarily backed down from efforts to rewrite the bylaws given the current tensions. But protesters are still pushing for increased representation in the center’s affairs. 

“The center is supposed to be for the seniors,” said Art McBride, one of the protest leaders, on Thursday. “And we feel like, well, we should have some voice.”

Center bylaws entitle members to monthly membership meetings where certain matters may be brought before them for a vote. But protesters say only one such member meeting has been held over the past several years. Hudec, who became president in 2022, confirmed that meetings have not regularly occurred since 2018, blaming a lack of consistent attendance in prior years. 

“(Seniors) just want to come here and have fun,” Hudec said. “They don’t care about all the politics of the place.” 

She pointed out that her draft revised bylaws still present opportunities for seniors to engage in the center’s affairs, such as advisory committees where members can submit recommendations to the board. 

But those getting political outside the center’s entrance say this isn’t enough. Protester Sherry Rodgers told Shasta Scout she and others are fighting to reinstate monthly member meetings while working on the creation of a committee that would work to modernize the bylaws, which haven’t been updated since 2014. 

Hudec agrees that the bylaws need to be updated, saying that’s why she brought forward a proposed rewrite to begin with. She said she’s going to try again once the controversy has died down, and plans to begin by hosting classes educating members on what exactly is being changed with the revised bylaws. 

Hudec added that she believes the protests aren’t really about voting rights. Many of the protesters are members of a dance group formerly hosted by the center on Friday nights, and Hudec cited month-long disputes between the group and the center as the real catalyst. 

What happened to Friday night dances?

In mid-June, a beloved center activity, Friday night dances, was cancelled — marking the end of a 55-year tradition. Rodgers, a representative from the dance group who attended Thursday’s protest, said the dances were cancelled after the group was asked to start paying a rental fee of $125 per dance to use the center’s space. 

That would have meant increasing the cost of attendance at the classes, Rodgers said, which had already risen over recent years due to pressure from Hudec. Currently, members pay $7 per dance while non-members pay $9. The total is enough to cover band, equipment and food costs, with any remaining profits going to the center, which typically charges $1 per member for activities. 

The center’s long-term practice is to offer two types of activities — those put on by the center volunteers and others held by outside vendors, which rent the space. Most of the senior center’s funding comes from renting the space to outside groups on weekends, Hudec said, when regularly-scheduled activities are not held. 

She said the dance group did not consistently generate enough revenue for the center and argued that requiring a rental fee would better reflect use of the facility on a Friday night, a time outside of the usual center hours. She also said she was concerned that the dance group’s practices, including allowing non-members under 50 to attend and making payments to musicians, could create compliance issues for the center’s tax-exempt nonprofit status. Her concerns were summarized in a letter sent to Rodgers and others at the dance group in May.

Rodgers disputed that characterization, saying the arrangement had operated for years with the center’s knowledge.

Both Rodgers and Hudec cited efforts to work with the City of Redding toward a compromise. Since the center is run by a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, it is responsible for managing its own programs, facility operations and financial decisions. The city leases the building to the nonprofit that runs the center and is responsible for high-level maintenance.

City of Redding Director of Community Services & Airports Travis Menne told Shasta Scout that the city proposed relocating the dance class to a Tuesday or Wednesday evening, allowing the center to make Fridays available for rentals. But Menne wrote that they “worked for months to try to find a solution between the groups and did not find any success.”

Rodgers has no future plans to negotiate with Hudec when it comes to using the center as a hosting space for the dances. She’s currently looking into other potential venues, and hopes the dances — which will likely be on Sunday nights instead of Friday — can be up and running come August. 

What is in store for the future of the senior center?

Even without Friday night dances, Hudec said the center is still going strong, offering 40-50 other programmed activities a week for seniors. This week, Shasta Scout spoke with several seniors attending activities at the center who were not involved with protests. They expressed gratitude for the center’s offerings and the connection it provides. 

“It’s the best thing about Redding,” one attendee of a line dancing class said. Another shared that the center is a place where she can feel “safe.”

While center membership slumped during the pandemic, membership counts have nearly doubled since then, according to Hudec. There is growing need for these spaces, with about a third of older adults nationally reporting loneliness and isolation. The issue, Hudec said, comes down to funding — everyone needs to pull their weight to keep the center running. 

Several seniors Shasta Scout spoke with at the center also emphasized the importance of volunteering and giving back. 

Members of a pool group described how they are responsible for funding the equipment for and upkeep of their space, saying they still push to donate to the center whenever they can. They also described a general disinterest among members when it came to voting and the center’s governance, which was echoed by other members who spoke to a reporter inside the center. 

Rodgers still believes that voting provides a necessary check on board power. She said protesters generally just want more transparency, which regular meetings would provide. She also suggested the center launch a Facebook page keeping members in the loop on updates.  

While the protests are currently on pause as the group works on a counter-revision of the current bylaws, Rodgers said that if another vote to pass Hudec’s draft bylaws is called, “we will be back out in force.”

“People who are a part of this center are experienced protesters,” McBride said during last Thursday’s protest. “Many of us have protested in a variety of things since the Vietnam War or before then, even. So it’s not unexpected that we would stand up for what we feel like is our rights in this kind of a situation.”

Maya Nelson is a student at Brown University. She’s reporting for Shasta Scout as a 2026 summer intern with support from the Nonprofit Newsroom Internship Program — created by The Scripps Howard Fund and the Institute for Nonprofit News.

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