CYPRESS : New Center for Seniors Makes a Hit

Sam Moses, 76, mostly shoots pool there. Emma Kirish, 73, goes mainly to dance.

And now they have their own separate rooms to do both.

After more than a decade of roaming from a community center to a pair of abandoned, cramped school buildings, Moses, Kirish and the city’s thousands of other senior citizens finally got a permanent--and spacious--home, at 9031 Grindlay St.

The $3-million, 17,000-square-foot Senior Citizens’ Center, which opened in May, is nearly double the size of the previous space the seniors used. With its bright, airy space and additional room for programs and classes, the new center is attracting more and more visitors, says its director, Shelley Hellen.

Since the opening, attendance has jumped from about 6,000 monthly visitors to about 8,000, Hellen said. And the numbers are still climbing.

“They love this area because it’s so spacious and light,� said Hellen, speaking of the facility’s roomy entrance hall, which is decorated with plants and features a skylight. “We want this place to be their second home. They can come here and spread out and feel they are special.�

Paul Angers, 65, vice president of the center’s Sunshine Club, so named for its daytime activities, said his group is planning a Fourth of July cookout that just wouldn’t have been possible at previous locations. He expects more than 150 to attend.

“We’ve got a home here,� said Angers, a retired engineer of Cypress, playing cards with friends in the dining hall. “We can do whatever we want when we want to, more or less.�

“I like the dancing here,� said Kirish, a retired electronics assembly line worker of Cypress, after a Thursday morning dance class. “Hey, I’m 73 and it loosens up the body. When you’re a senior you have a tendency to sit, sit, sit. With this beautiful new building, though, you can’t afford not to come here. The building just energizes you.�

Of course, as with any new building there are the inevitable kinks that still have to be worked out. Moses, who carries his 56-year-old pool cue “Sarge� in its own case, complains that the center’s new pool tables aren’t level. Other than that, Moses, who plays with the same group of buddies at least four times a week, said he is pleased with the center’s three-table billiards room, which also has a television set.

There is more to the center than dancing, billiards and cards, however. It offers a full schedule of activities, including movies, painting, knitting, calligraphy and chorus. The center also provides important social services as well. Seniors can obtain help in finding roommates, get free legal and financial advice and receive medical testing. The center will also deliver hot meals to homebound seniors.

“It’s fantastic,� said Leon Scott, 78, who serves on a city advisory board on senior affairs. “We’ve waited 10 years for this. We worked our buns off. Sometimes we thought this place would never materialize.�

Scott stopped by the center this week to have his blood pressure checked. (It was fine.)

Taking blood pressure is “a really important service,� Hellen said. “Literally, we have people walking around here that could have strokes.�

Of all the reasons that the seniors come to the new center, companionship tops the list, Hellen said. The seniors, many of whom are widows and widowers, develop strong friendships at the center.

“The goal here is to keep them independent for as long as possible and to keep them from going into a rest home,� Hellen said. “We want to keep them alive and as interested in life as we can.�