West Windsor center director tells group: "Come up with a proposal you can all agree on. Then you can go forward with a united front."
By John Tredrea
The veteran director of West Windsor Township’s senior center has advised a growing group of Hopewell Valley seniors who want a full-service center here to come up with a specific proposal to put before municipal officials and the public.
"Identify your needs and then reach out," Lynn Thornton, director of the West Windsor senior center, suggested to a group of about 70 local seniors Friday afternoon.
Ms. Thornton was guest speaker at the Brown Bag Luncheon of Pennington Presbyterian Church’s Older Adult Ministry Committee a group that recently has taken an active interest in the idea of bringing a full-service senior center to the Valley.
"Come up with a proposal you can all agree on. Then you can go forward with a united front," Ms. Thornton said.
Several local officials were present Friday, among them being Hopewell Township Deputy Mayor David Sandahl, who expressed support for the idea of creating a center through a cooperative effort.
Unlike the small William Howe Memorial Senior Center, located on Reading Street in Pennington Borough, which borough officials estimate needs $80,000 to $100,000 in repairs, a full-service senior center would offer social services and a variety of activities, such as classes, workshops and day trips.
The only activity for seniors currently offered at the Howe center is the Nutrition Program, which operates under the auspices of Mercer County. Pennington Borough Councilman Weed Tucker said Monday that on an average day, about 50 seniors will show up for lunch, for which there is a nominal charge. Mr. Tucker said that, on a typical day, about 35 of seniors having lunch will be from Hopewell Township, with four or five more seniors each from Pennington, Hopewell Borough and Lambertville.
The Howe center has about 1,500 feet of floor space, Mr. Tucker said. Needed work there includes roof replacement and repair or replacement of the HVAC system, he said. By contrast, the West Windsor center has over 5,100 square feet of floor space. A proposed addition would double that amount, Ms. Thornton said Friday.
The West Windsor Center, created in 1979, offers a wide variety of social and medical services, she said. There also are discussion groups, workshops and classes in painting, ballroom dancing and line dancing, tai chi, yoga, foreign languages and other subjects. Ms. Thornton said the facility she oversees also has established partnerships with area hospitals in order to offer seniors regular testing of things like blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose levels.
Ms. Thornton said about 71 senior citizens use her center each day five days a week.
"A senior center is a lot more than just a bingo hall," Ms. Thornton said. She added that her center also makes regular "reassurance visits to the frail" at their homes.
A facility like the one in West Windsor as described by Ms. Thornton is what the Valley seniors who attended Friday’s meeting have in mind as opposed to the very limited options at the Howe center, where seniors are limited to having lunch and perhaps sticking around for a bit afterwards for some talk or a game of cards or backgammon.
Ms. Thornton urged Valley area seniors to keep an open mind on how to get what they want. "A senior center is as much a concept as a building," she said several times. "It’s not just the facility itself. It’s the concept of delivering services. You have to do it within the resources of your community." She advised the seniors attending the meeting to inventory what existing buildings in the Valley might be able to provide some of the senior-oriented services they want.
"We’ve been talking to the school district about possibly using some of their space," replied Hopewell Township resident Richard Pratt.
"That gives you limited hours," Ms. Thornton warned. "You would probably only be able to use that space after school closes. Many seniors don’t like to drive after darkness has fallen."
By way of illustrating creative ways of finding space for a center without incurring the expense of putting up a new building on land that might have to be purchased, she noted that Sayreville has a senior center "in an old school building. Montgomery Township is renovating an existing building."
Hopewell Township Deputy Mayor Sandahl attended the meeting, along with township Committeewoman Arlene Kemp and Committeewoman-elect Judy Niederer. On the idea of establishing a full-service senior center for the Valley, Mr. Sandahl voiced strong optimism and support for the idea that one is needed and overdue. "There’s no question we can put one together," he said. "It’s an issue of coordinating the effort in a smart way so that we can leverage costs."
Mr. Sandahl said talks between seniors and officials of all three Valley governments and county administration could produce the kind of cooperative effort he says is needed.
Barbara Pratt, Richard Pratt’s wife and a member of the Presbyterian Church’s Older Adult Ministry Committee, agreed, saying a "summit meeting" on the establishing a full-service senior center is a good idea.
Hopewell Valley’s population is about 21,000, close to West Windsor’s population of 24,000, Ms. Thornton noted. But at 60 square miles, the Valley is more than double the size of West Windsor, which is 27 square miles. That being the case, township resident Norman Goldman noted during Friday’s meeting, the Valley might want to consider having several senior facilities strategically placed in the Valley, rather than having only one that could be a fairly long distance from the homes of the some of the seniors who might want to use it. Ms. Thornton replied that Mr. Goldman’s suggestion was definitely worth considering.
Ms. Thornton said the annual budget for the center she oversees is $55,000. "Consider very carefully who you want to run your center," she said. "Getting one here will take time, energy, a lot of cooperation and probably some compromise."
Larry Mansier, a member of the Older Adult Ministry Committee, said Tuesday: "We are having a small group meet next Tuesday (Nov. 16) morning to discuss feedback from the meeting … Also, we are assessing different criteria as guidelines: speech and handouts from Lynn Thornton, a guideline from the National Council on Aging and what we have gathered from visits to senior centers or information from the Internet."