Former Senior Center members reorganize again
By Susan Nienow CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The merger between the Senior Center of Chesterfield and the Lifelong Learning Institute (LLI) last fall seemed like the perfect match, but some seniors have moved yet again.

The former Senior Center has been reestablished as the Senior Center Partnership at Chesterfield and is now associated with Senior Connections.

While LLI focuses mostly on offering personal enrichment classes for seniors, the Senior Center Partnership will be more activity-based like the former Senior Center of Chesterfield. The program will share space and be associated with Senior Connections' Friendship Café at the Bon Air Presbyterian Church, a location that's convenient to many of the residential areas where seniors live.

Debbie Leidheiser, LLI's executive director, welcomes this new program for seniors.

"There is not enough for seniors in the county anyway," said Leidheiser, adding that additional programming that serves older adults is good for the community.

The Senior Center of Chesterfield closed last summer due to financial difficulties. Afterwards, a group of Senior Center members merged with LLI, but some missed the many social activities available through a centerbased program.

To meet the needs of the community, Senior Connections opened the Friendship Café earlier this month at the church. The program will provide a hot lunch and other services to area seniors on Mondays and Tuesdays. Senior Center Partnership programming will be offered before and after lunch.

The Friendship Café and the Senior Center Partnership programming are not a duplication of LLI. "We want to serve a Bon Air population, giving people meaningful activities, and added transportation services," said Thelma Bland Watson, executive director of Senior Connections and the liaison between Senior Connections Friendship Café and the Senior Center. The aim is to keep seniors active and in their own homes.

Watson also clarified, "We want to continue with LLI. One place is not all you need. This program is neighborhood-based, and there is an older population in the area," she said.

The new program has not affected any offerings at LLI, said Leidheiser. It also hasn't had much impact on LLI's membership numbers. Out of the 100 active members of LLI who came from the former Senior Center, 83 have retained their LLI memberships. LLI has a total membership of 288 seniors.

Over 60 people attended the Mar. 19 opening of the Friendship Café including church members, seniors who had belonged to the Senior Center of Chesterfield and representatives from Senior Connections.

After the Senior Center of Chesterfield closed, all of the center's weekly activities were moved to other locations. Activities that are scheduled on Thursdays and Fridays will continue at their current locations until Senior Center programming is expanded to four days a week at the church, explained Louise Swegle, publicity chairman of the Senior Center Partnership of Chesterfield.

Annual dues are $85 for the Senior Center. Scholarships are available. For more information, call 343-3029.