WASHINGTON – Building a new senior center in La Pine is a top priority for Oregon politicians these days.

With nearly 21 percent of southern Deschutes County community members 65 years or older, pressure to build a larger and more efficient senior center for the La Pine community has translated into strong efforts to get the job done.

”Right now the senior center is the number one priority in Des-chutes County,” said Chuck Johnson, chairman of the new building committee at the Central Oregon Council of Aging. ”We are looking forward to breaking ground in the spring of next year, but a lot of that depends on gathering up the money.”

Three weeks ago the project received a $600,000 community development block grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Johnson said the project has now collected $860,000 of the estimated $2.5 million necessary for the planned 14,000-square-foot facility.

Oregon politicians have also thrown their weight behind the drive to fund the senior center.

Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rep. Greg Walden, D-Ore., wrote request letters to the subcommittee on labor, health, and human services asking for $750,000 in additional funds for the center.

If the labor, health and human services appropriations bill gets rolled up into an omnibus package, then funding for the center could be included.

Geoff Stuckart, an aide to Wyden, said senior citizens’ issues were the reason that his boss went into politics. Prior to running for the Senate seat, Wyden was the co-director of the Oregon Gray Panthers, a national organization of intergenerational activists dedicated to social change.

”The senior center serves a vital purpose and needs the funding to continue to run and keep up the good work that it has been doing,” Stuckart said.

Dallas Boyd, aide to Walden, said the senior center was a cause his boss has supported numerous times, calling quality of life issues for seniors ”a high priority” for the congressman.

Caroline Mullen, Smith’s press secretary, did not return phone calls on Friday.

Ball Janik LLP, a law firm based in Portland, had been lobbying Congress and collaborating with La Pine residents to raise necessary funds, but its contract with the county expired at the end of October. Another lobbying contract will be bid on early next year.

Johnson said Midstate Electric, Les Schwab, Clear Choice, a health insurance company, and Murray and Holt, a car dealership, have also contributed donations. Proceeds generated by a quilting club at the current senior center are also going toward the new facility. Other fund-raising activities in the works include Krispy Kreme doughnut sales and loose-change collections at schools.

Matthew Johnson can be reached at 202-661-0151.