The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
New senior center at Union Village opens
Willoughby’s new David E. Anderson Senior Center opened to members on Aug. 12, the first of three Union Village entities to officially open its doors.
The senior center, located at 36939 Ridge Road, held an open house on Aug. 10 to showcase the new facility. According to Director Amy Skolny, the senior center has about 1,700 members with an average of 140 who cycle through the center every day.
“When we started talking about this new build, the amount of new members probably has doubled, because they just want to get into this new building,” Skolny said.
During the senior center’s second day of operation, Skolny mentioned that public input factored into the development of the new senior center, even before it was open.
“We toured about 12 different senior centers in Northeast Ohio and tried to get a feel for what they were doing, what they were offering, and then, quite honestly, the seniors come in and just tell us: ‘we need to do more pickleball here, we need cornhole, (etc.)’” she said. “The seniors’ influence is really what’s driving us.”
The city’s previous senior center was located in the former Browning Elementary School at 38032 Brown Ave.
The senior center is open to members ages 55 and over. Activities offered at the center range from Tai Chi to cornhole to arts programs.
On Aug. 13, seniors were already participating in activities at the center, including a knitting group, a linedancing class and utilizing the center’s fitness equipment.
The center includes areas dedicated to physical fitness, yoga and aerobic activities, a dining hall and outdoor patio, kitchen facilities, a game room, a reception area, a preschool, a library and computer room and more.
“We (also) have blood pressure screenings, hearing screenings, vision screenings,” Skolny said, mentioning the variety of resources and activities available. “We have a podiatrist that comes in, reflexology... all of that is offered.”
The new senior center — which is named after the previous Willoughby mayor — is connected to and shares space with the new West End YMCA and South High School. Members will be able to use a shared indoor track and field house, which includes a shuffleboard court and basketball court which can be used for multiple sports and activities.
Anderson told The News Herald that Willoughby Eastlake Schools Superintendent Steve Thompson had originally proposed the idea of including the city in the collaboration between the school district and the YMCA. The city had been looking for a new senior center prior to the idea of Union Village.
“The timing was just right to do that,” Anderson said. “It was time that we built a new senior center and (Thompson) shared with me also that Browning school could be (re)opened as a school.
“It just made all the sense in the world to do it this way. Browning school was a great senior center for a lot of years,” he added, “but it was never designed as a senior center. It was on two floors with no elevator. It had a relatively small parking lot.”
Skolny said that the former senior center had been open for decades.
Anderson said that current Mayor Robert Fiala announced in a January 2018 city council meeting that legislation would be introduced to name the new senior center after Anderson.
“That was the first I had heard of it,” Anderson said. “Obviously it’s a tremendous honor.”
He mentioned that, as a member himself, he hopes to utilize the new senior center in the future.