What Mary-Lou Hede seeks the most when she visits the Huntington Senior Center is companionship.
For the past 10 years, the retired library clerk and longtime widower has made several friends of different nationalities: Japanese, German and Scandinavian, the Huntington Station resident said recently.
“When I meet someone from another country, I ask, ‘Can you tell me what it was like? What did you do as a child? What games did you play?’ ” Hede, 87, said. “Everyone has such different stories and I want to hear all of them.”
The Huntington Senior Center on 423 Park Ave. is a hub of activity for about 2,500 Huntington Town residents 60 and older who seek to make connections, like Hede, or who come to grab lunch or participate in a variety of activities, from exercise classes to bingo, Julia Frangione, director of the facility, said. The center, which the town opened on March 18, 1974, plans to celebrate its 50th anniversary Thursday at the John J. Flanagan Memorial Activity Center. The center is open five days a week, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The town’s Department of Human Services, which oversees the senior division, has a budget of $3.3 million for 2024, town spokeswoman Christine Geed said. That money covers the senior center, veterans affairs and handicapped services, among other services. The center’s budget increased $16,000 between 2023 and 2024, Geed said.
According to the 2022 U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, there are 4.9 million people 60 and older in New York. Of that, 386,329 are in Suffolk County and 60,408 in the Town of Huntington.
In addition to the Park Avenue location, the town offers services at a waterfront location at 239 Little Neck Rd. in Centerport that is open in the summer. There, visitors enjoy beach activities such as barbecues, a kayak club and bocce.
Frangione said celebrating the center’s anniversary and learning about the seniors’ “rich history and life experiences” is an honor.
“They…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply