Date: 8/11/2021
Senior Centers are keenly important for the health of a community and its citizens. According to the National Council on Aging,
“Senior Centers serve as a gateway... connecting older adults to vital community services.” They provide a gateway to the community at large, social support and resources to assist the elderly in maintaining their health and ability to live independently. Senior Centers assist them and their families to have elderly individuals stay in their homes and thus in the community.
Most people over the age of 60 have a keen desire to remain independent. Yet, older people who live alone may need to make an effort to avoid social isolation. It is the intent of the new Wilbraham Senior Center to alleviate the barriers to socialization and services in Wilbraham. We hope to make it easy to access and enjoy the company of others through a host of activities that can help keep the senior physically, mentally and emotionally fit. This will maintain their contribution to our community as a whole.
Our present senior center is clearly inadequate to meet the needs of our seniors. It is staffed by a team of people who have a tremendous commitment to our senior population and a host of ideas for how services can be enhanced to serve our senior population. Their most pressing obstacle to expanding services is lack of space.
The proposed new senior center will provide four times the amount of space in an idyllic piece of property behind our present town hall. It will be a new, energy efficient structure that facilitates movement, comfort and socialization for this segment of our population. It will be a center that can be used by any community group, and rented for social events after hours. It will be built with the needs of seniors in mind, from ample areas for socialization, to doorknobs that can easily be turned by arthritic hands, to toilets equipped with grab bars and chairs with arms to making standing from a seated position easier. There will be plentiful parking, a portico to shelter people being dropped off and the ability to provide senior lunches five days per week.
All of this will bring together people who need each other. After all, isn’t that what “community” is all about?!
We welcome your comments and questions at seniorinfo2021@gmail.com and 595-2800 ext. 315 (leave a message). Please attend one of our public forums.
A special Town Meeting is scheduled for Oct. 18, at Minnechaug Regional High School. Please be there. Your vote will count.
Linda Tatko Cooper
Wilbraham Senior Center Building Committee
