It’s been an adjustment, but members of the Clarkson/Brockport/Sweden senior community are making the transition from the former Senior Center/Lodge on the Canal on State Street in the village to the Sweden Clarkson Community Center off Lake Road South in the Town of Sweden.
A Senior Open House was held on Wednesday, November 15, to encourage seniors to come and take a look at the entire recreation facility and learn more about what services and activities are available to them in the new location.
A gathering/activity room in the center of the building includes some familiar paintings and furniture from the Lodge on the Canal as well as new furnishings (provided at a discounted price from Dunn’s furniture store), games, books and an opportunity to get out and enjoy time spent with neighbors of all ages.
Joyce Henion enjoyed a game of dominoes with friends during the event. “We have to adjust and adapt to being up here,” Henion said. She joked that she wants to show people that, “we’re not dead yet,” and noted that the gathering room is becoming a “neat” place to visit. “We need to get people up here to see that it can work,” she said of the shift to the Rec Center for senior activities.
Several groups offer seniors a chance to use their skills to give back to the larger community through projects such as the Sweden Comfort Quilters, the Knitting Club, the Dress a Girl program, the Elderberries group and the Sweden Senior Singers, who performed a concert in the rec center gymnasium for those attending.
Sign-up sheets were available on November 15 for all activities. Seniors can take advantage of physical activities such as exercise, yoga and Silver Sneakers offered at the rec center, if they choose.
“Not all seniors are capable of physical activities, but they want to get out and do something,” said Betty Coopenberg, who heads the Sweden Senior Association with her husband, Bob.
She said she believes the new space is working well and emphasizes the gathering room is for people of all ages.
Members of the recreation staff provided tours of the entire facility for those attending and leaders from both the towns of Sweden and Clarkson were in attendance.
Sweden Town Council member Lori Skoog said she wants to continue to be a voice for seniors in town government and act as a liaison between seniors and the town.
She says the bulk of the move from the Lodge on the Canal was completed October 1 and that the buildings and grounds staff has been very helpful in making the gathering room more inviting by applying fresh coats of paint, putting in new ceiling panels, making electrical updates, creating a space for a commercial coffee maker set-up and installing cabinets and a counter from the former senior center.
“I want people to bring in their own mugs,” Skoog says, and keep them in the glass-doored cabinets.
She says some seniors were anxious about the move but now, “they are finding out they can do things here.”
