New van for Saugus seniors funded

SAUGUS – The Senior Center may be short on funds but it isn’t lacking wheels.Council on Aging President Dick Barry said he received word that a grant to fund a new van for the center has been approved. It will be a year or more before their new ride arrives but Barry said that isn’t unusual.Over the years the Senior Center has watched its budget dwindle under town instituted cutbacks but the automotive pool has continued to flourish completely due to grants.It was several years ago, Barry said when he learned that another Senior Center was set to receive a van free and clear through a federal grant. He said that he got on the phone to Rep. John Tierney and asked why Saugus wasn’t getting any new van.”He said because you never applied,” Barry said with a laugh.Since then Barry has faithfully applied for grant after grant for vans to keep the center rolling.The center runs two vans daily that provide seniors with rides to doctor’s appointments and pick up residents for lunch. The appointment runs cover an area that encompasses seven communities and the lunch runs pick up residents who might otherwise never get out of their homes.So the vans are, Barry said, in a word, important to the center.Barry said Tierney called him at home to tell him he had personally inserted a request for the $80,000 replacement van.This will be the fifth van Barry has snagged for the center through the grant but only two vans are ever on the road at any given time. Barry said all told it takes almost three years to receive the vans from the time the grant is written until the ride is delivered.Barry said Tierney included the request for funding in the upcoming transportation budget as a replacement van and he expects it will be delivered around June 2010.”He’s been wonderful,” Barry said about Tierney. “He’s been very, very good to us.”Along with Tierney, Barry said he has also had Town Manager Andrew Bisignani’s support for seeking the vans as well.”The addition of this van will guarantee the continued rides for our Saugus seniors,” he added.