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Brian MacLeod, chairman, Hampden Council on Aging. Reminder photo by Debbie Gardner
Senior Center hosts official reopening



By Debbie Gardner

PRIME Editor



HAMPDEN "Seven years ago many people in this room were present at the groundbreaking for this center," said Hampden Selectman John D. Flynn at the official grand reopening of the Hampden Senior Center on July 13.

"In 2000 we opened a senior center building that was the finest facility in the area, perhaps in the state, " Flynn continued. "In 2005, budget constraints saw the closing of both this center and the Hampden Free Public Library."

"We lost two lifelines in our community," he told the crowd of 100 men and women who had gathered to enjoy a pre-ceremony meal in the Center's great room. "But now we're back, and we're here to stay."

And Flynn was but one of the speakers who took the podium to offer words of welcome and thanks during the half-hour ceremony, which was capped by a dessert buffet prepared by Center volunteers and friends.

Lois Scibelli, Chief of Staff for Sen. Brian Lees (R- East Longmeadow), brought the Senator's congratulations on the Center's reopening and regrets that Statehouse business kept him in Boston.

"As you know the Senator is not running for re-election in November," Scibelli said. "But know that we are always here for seniors, and want to hear from you."

Scibelli later reiterated Sen. Lees' disappointment at having to miss the Hampden Senior Center's re-opening.

"He'd been involved with the Center since the beginning ... he worked to help secure the initial funding," she said.

Following Scibelli's remarks, Hampden Senior Center Executive Director Rebecca Moriarty announced that Sen. Lees had been able to secure $100,000 for the Senior Center in the State's supplemental budget.

David Stevens, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Association of Councils on Aging, spoke to how the economic downturn of 2005 had caused many senior centers to make cutbacks though Hampden's was the only one to close.

"A senior center in any community is a vital [facility] and should remain open," Stevens said, noting that Hampden's center is currently scheduled to be open only 20 hours each week.

"It could be open longer if you had more volunteers," he said, adding that he and a colleague apply the tithing principle to volunteering, and donate four hours each week to service.

"Can you find four hours a week to volunteer for your town?" Stevens asked the audience. "It may not be for the senior center, it could be for the Police department, or the Fire department, or the Town Hall ... [your time] could help bring back your community faster."

Brian MacLeod, chairman of the Hampden Council on Aging, welcomed back Executive Director Rebecca Moriarty and others. He also thanked "all the places that helped keep the programs going."

"Let's make sure this is our last grand re-opening," MacLeod said.

Moriarty closed the program by extending personal thanks to all the facilities and people who had kept programs going during the year the Hampden Senior Center remained closed.

"I'd like to thank the people at the Town Hall ... Barbara Dunwoody, who kept the knitting program going at Centennial commons, Matty Nichols who kept Pitch going at the Town hall, and Kathleen flynn, who hosted the Trivia group at her home every week," Moriarty said.

She had special thanks for Gennie Ford, interim site manager and Reverend Brian McLeod, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, which donated space for their work in keeping the senior meal program alive for the past year.

"Without these two people, the program would have been cancelled," she said.

Moriarty also extended thanks to Rita Vail, Virginia Schneider, Joe Lawrence, Bill Lillian and John Shay for keeping the Brown Bag Food Program going during the Center's closure.

And she thanked volunteers Ed Harris, Rita Vail, Chrissy Cesan, Sue LaMondia and a group of young adults from Bethlehem Baptist Church for their efforts in cleaning up the Center's gardens for the re-opening.

Her final thanks went to an integral member of the Center's staff, who, she said, wasn't in attendance because he "didn't like large gatherings."

"Rudy Hoyt, our custodian , on a volunteer basis for the past year came in once a week and checked the building to make sure it was all right," she said.