Saugus Senior Center receives new lease on life

SAUGUS – The doors of the Senior Center will remain open at least through June 30, 2009 by virtue of a $100,000 gift from Town Meeting.Town Meeting members voted unanimously during a special Town Meeting Monday to fund the center that was in danger of being forced to close – soon.When Gov. Deval Patrick made a number of unexpected first quarter budget cuts earlier this fall the Senior Center lost half of its funding.Council of Aging Chairman Richard Barry told meeting members that if the center were to stay status quo it would close by Feb. 1 at the latest.Barry reminded meeting members that the town has not funded the Center for two years. It has operated instead almost solely on grants. When funding was cut last year the Friends of the Senior Center emptied its accounts to keep the doors open.”We’re broke,” Barry said. “The bottom line is if you don’t vote this (article) the Senior Center will close in the middle of January or at the latest by February 1st.”The danger in that, Barry said, is the possibility of isolating the roughly 6,000 seniors who live in the community.”We get 200 phone calls a day,” he said. “We get 200 drop-ins a day. If we close, we close, there will be no ghost crew to answer questions. There will be no one there.”Barry cited a recent survey taken among seniors in the community to bolster his arguments. According to the survey 75 percent of individuals said the Senior Center helped them remain independent; 90 percent said they were in better health than they were one year ago. Barry said that is because many of the center’s activities are health related.”And you have to have friends in this life,” he added. “Ninety percent said they have developed close friends at the center.”Barry said fifty percent also rely on the center for physical support by providing rides, answers and advice.Howard Street resident Kemon Dukas said he went to lunch at the Senior Center Monday with his wife, one widow and five widowers. All of his companions but one relied on a van to pick them up and bring them to the center for a nutritious, delicious and inexpensive meal.”And for some people this is their main meal,” he added.Dukas invited any Town Meeting member to join him for lunch at the center, he promised to pick up the tab, so they could see for themselves how important the center was to people.”It means a lot to these people and I think we owe it to them,” he said.His sentiments echoed those made by Peter Bogdan who also frequents the center.”If this does not pass it will be a tremendous failure on the part of the town to support its citizens,” he said. “The job of a civilization is to take care of its young, its informed and its elderly. These are your elderly.”No one stood to argue with the men, however, the article passed unanimously.