A crowd of about 100 people gathered at the Sweden Senior Center Wednesday, September 24 to learn details regarding a draft proposal compiled by the Sweden Senior Center (SSC) Committee containing recommendations for how to breathe new life into the facility and save the Center from closure.
The SSC Committee has been meeting weekly for about two months and are expected to submit recommendations for revitalizing the Center to the Town Board by October 15. The town is in the process of adopting a 2015 budget and has already received the tentative budget.
“The Baby Boomers have arrived in Brockport,” Committee Chair Lori Skoog said as she opened the meeting, noting the number of households 65 and over in the Town of Sweden has grown to 20 percent of the population.
The draft proposal requests a one-year extension of the Center’s operation including an increase in hours. That time span would allow for changes to be made regarding participation, programming and revenues.
The committee also feels hiring a director is critical for the revitalization and continuation of the Senior Center. The 2015 Tentative Sweden budget does not include funds for hiring a director or for extending hours.
Additional highlights of the draft proposal include:
•A liaison to the Center from the Town Board
•The creation of an Advisory Board to provide input and guidance pertaining to matters relating to planning, development, and coordination of services and programs at the Center.
•New programming such as special dinners and celebrations, game tournaments, trips and lectures to draw Sweden and area residents to the Center
•Marketing, including use of social media
•Increasing revenues through fees/memberships, an annual fundraiser, facility use, partnerships and creatively utilizing the kitchen for such things as a food processing incubator or expanded business production of the Center’s cookies
•Creating a new name for the Center to promote offerings and to benefit more residents
•A new interior decorative uplift
•New volunteer programs and initiatives
Members of the Sweden Town Board and Brockport Village Board attended the meeting and Sweden Supervisor Rob Carges noted the town is not growing and is at a “financial crossroads.” He said the town may have to change the way it thinks about the Center and what the facility can offer residents. “A change in name might spark change that goes on here,” he said.
Supervisor Carges emphasized he does not want the situation to be viewed as an “us vs. them” between programs for older residents at the Senior Center and programs for youth at the Recreation Center. “We should be able to bring youth down here, too,” he said of the Senior Center.
“We want to keep the Center open,” SSC Committee Chair Lori Skoog said. “It’s a great facility for all ages, it should not be exclusive for all senior activities. We need to prove we can be innovative enough to get more people to come.”
A young mother who attended the meeting and who is a neighbor to the Center on State Street in the village of Brockport, said she wants to see the Center remain a vital part of her neighborhood.
“I see people walk to programs in the village,” she said, and added that she hopes the Center will be there for herself and her friends when they are older.
2014 has been a challenging year for the Center. Hours were cut earlier this year and the Center is currently without a director. Some Senior programs have been moved to the Recreation Center south of the village, but several Seniors have complained that the Recreation Center location presents many difficulties for older residents.
The SSC Committee, which consists of Skoog, Hanny Heyen, Jean Brooks, Chet Fery, Cora Schrader and Harry Shifton, is actively seeking more community participation.
Members emphasized at the end of the September 24 meeting that nothing they are proposing, “… will work if we don’t have a director and if we don’t have more hours.”
