First steps taken to build a new senior center in Holyoke

Date: 3/3/2009

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor



HOLYOKE -- The Friends of the Holyoke Council on Aging have launched a campaign to raise money to help pay for a feasibility study for a new senior center.

The first event to help pay for the study that has an estimated cost of $40,000 to $50,000 will be an inspirational concert performed by the Dan Kane Singers at 3 p.m. on April 5 at Holy Cross Church. Tickets are $10 in advance and are available from the Council on Aging (COA) as well as from Highland Hardware.

Kathleen Bowler, director of the COA, said the need is increasing for elder services in the city and the basement area of the War Memorial that now is home for the senior center is inadequate.

A University of Connecticut needs assessment conducted last year confirmed that the present site is too limited to provide the upgrades in services and programming required by today s elder populations.

Bowler said the community needs a center with a fitness center, education programs and private meeting space, among other features.

We need to expand. We need to provide more parking. We need to be able to take this program into the 21st century and we just can t do it the way we are arranged now, Bowler stated.

Bowler said that nearly 400 seniors use the current facility each week. She said the city has a very high percentage of senior citizens.

Fran Wilhelmi, the president of the Friends group, called the current space dismal, dark and dreary. She added that support for a new center is growing and the Friends group has 300 members enrolled.

Longtime Holyoke newsman Michael Burke, who is also a member of the Friends group, explained that the feasibility study is necessary to help set a budget and a timeline for the project. The location would also be determined by the study -- a good impartial decision Burke added.

Barbara Bernard, who has advocated for seniors since the late 1940s, said, There is so much that could be done, that should be done [to help seniors].

Bowler said the feasibility study would also be underwritten in part by the city as well. She said the study has the support of Mayor Michael Sullivan and City Council members as well.

The projected cost of the new senior center would be $4 to $6 million, Bowler said.