She said a key goal achieved during her tenure was introducing exercise classes to assist older adults in becoming more healthy.
“One of the big things we did is expand our exercise programs and (provided) opportunities for people to exercise more,” she said. “We started doing the Silver Sneaker classes and now we have them here every day along with a variety of other exercise opportunities like Zumba and Tai Chi and aerobic line dancing.
“We’re just trying to offer a lot of opportunities based on people’s interests and abilities to be able to be more active because that’s a huge part of health.”
Munafo said she will step down in a few more months to spend more time with her four grandchildren, as well as to be more readily available to her parents in southeast Ohio.
“I’m the oldest of the siblings, their children, so I want to be able to help,” she said.
Munafo said the thing she’ll most miss about working at Central Connections is her daily interactions with older adults.
“I do enjoy helping them and problem solving … listening to them in terms of the things that they want here, the things they’d like to see,” she said.
Munafo said Central Connections is in good hands with Monica Smith as its new executive director.
“I think she has a lot of good ideas for ways that we can continue to improve and expand our programming here,” Munafo said. “As most non-profits are, we’re always looking for and have spent a lot of time looking for grants and fundraising and donations. That’s a big part of the job and so fresh ideas are always good in that arena.”
T. Duane Gordon, executive director of the Middletown Community Foundation, said he stops by Central Connections twice weekly for Rotary Club of Middletown and Kiwanis Club of Middletown meetings.
“I saw it under previous directors and then what Ann has done the past several years that she has run the show over there,” Gordon said. “She really brought to the place a real re-invigoration. She reorganized pretty much all of their operations … from top to bottom and completely restructured everything.
Gordon said Munafo’s efforts came at a time when Central Connections was “operationally a very difficult organization to run … they were losing a lot of money and running out of funding.”
“She really took that crisis and turned it around to where it is now, an organization that appears to be able to stand on its own two feet,” Gordon said. “Had she not come in at the time she came in with her skill set, I don’t know if that would have happened and if the facility would have survived.”
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