SEBASTIAN — With Vero Beach senior citizens facing the conversion of their senior center to an adult daycare facility later this month, Vero Beach Mayor Pilar Turner turned to Sebastian leaders to see their success story.
Sebastian seniors lost their usual place to gather for games, fellowship or just a cup of coffee and conversation when the Davis Street senior center operated by the Senior Resource Association converted to adult daycare this summer. Now the seniors not only have a place of their own, on Friday it was packed with hundreds of attendees who enjoyed tables filled with cakes, pastries and cookies donated by local businesses and residents.
After attending the grand opening of the Sebastian Senior Activity Center, which sprung up in just weeks in a surplus City of Sebastian building, Turner said she was awestruck with the success and cooperation that led to the center’s creation.
“It’s a great resource,” Turner said. “I’m so impressed and inspired by the efforts made here in Sebastian. It gives the senior community a special place to go.”
Vero’s own senior center, also operated by the Senior Resource Association, will cease all recreation activities on Oct. 19. As of yet, there is no backup place or plan for Vero’s seniors or their activities. But the effort in Sebastian took only about six weeks, so there’s still hope if Vero Beach pulls together the way Sebastian did.
Sebastian Senior Activity Center President Carolyn Sardain Anderson said she couldn’t help but smile from ear to ear as she greeted guests during the event. “This is the greatest thing I have ever been involved in,” Anderson said. “This is a very exciting day.”
The center’s opening is a culmination of a lot of hard work and compassion from members throughout the community, she said.
“We owe the city special thanks,” Anderson said. “This couldn’t have happened without them.”
Even the weather cooperated by providing sunshine and blue skies, she said.
Nearly all of the center’s regular members and scores of supporters and community members packed the building, located near the current Sebastian City Hall in a structure formerly used to house the city engineering department decades ago.
It’s a fitting location given the cooperation and support provided to the center by the city. Sebastian city council member Andrea Coy said she was thrilled “beyond measure” to see the activity center open its doors.
“They’ve always wanted a place to go where they feel comfortable,” Coy said. “They wanted a place to get together, play games and enjoy the fellowship.”
Dominoes, pinochle, canasta, cribbage and euchre being among the favorites, she said.
“This new, non-profit has no overhead,” Coy said. “Seniors don’t have to worry about having enough money for membership dues — if you come to play cards, you’re a member.”
Word spread throughout the senior community during the weeks leading up to the center’s opening, she said.
“I bet they’ve doubled their numbers in that short period of time,” Coy said. “Now, they have more than 60 members.”
Before creation of the new center, area seniors sought out the Senior Resource Association’s center on Davis Street. The Davis center wasn’t meeting their needs anymore, she said.
“The straw that broke the camel’s back was an increase in fees to play in card games,” Coy said. “The price basically doubled overnight.”
Disenfranchised seniors started to look for other options. They organized and approached the city council to see if the city could host a center.
Finding space for a new place for seniors to gather wasn’t much of an obstacle, she said.
“The building was sitting empty for the past (few) years,” Coy said. “The council voted unanimously to provide the building for the seniors.”
However, an empty building was just a start. The new center would need tables, chairs and other necessary items to provide a safe, comfortable place for people to gather.
“So many members of the community stepped up to help,” Coy said. “The businesses, the other non-profits and local residents made it happen.”
From painting to coffee makers, community members donated supplies, money or time to get the center ready for opening, she said.
“It’s a happy story,” Coy said. “It’s a ‘win-win-win.’ There’s no downside.”
With their doors open, Sebastian Senior Activity Center plans to continue expanding its offerings and hopes to attract more people to the center, she said.
Isles of Vero Beach community sales leader Bob Chartier said for many local businesses lending support for the center serves their existing customers.
“It’s great that this is public, less expensive and more accessible to the seniors,” Chartier said. “They’re happy there’s a public facility to come to and socialize.”
Senior services are struggling a bit throughout the region, he said. Surrounding municipalities face similar circumstances in finding resources to meet the needs of their elderly residents.
Sebastian Senior Activity Center is located behind the Art Center at 1255 Main Street and is open from 12:30 to 4:15 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. Cash donations are still needed to finish equipping and furnishing the center. For more information, visit www.sebastianseniors.org.
Staff Writer Lisa Zahner contributed to this report