Kent Senior Center to reopen for first time since COVID
KENT — Come Friday, smells of pan seared chicken marsala, quinoa pepper pilaf and broccoli will be coming from the Kent Senior Center, as the facility will have its kickoff reopening lunch.
The center, at 16 Swifts
Lane, was closed since the beginning of the pandemic. It will now resume serving lunches on Fridays.
“I decided that we needed to restart this program,” First Selectman Jean Speck said. “We have a large community of seniors in our town and activities for them have really been slowed due to the pandemic, and it’s going to be definitely a renewed focus for this new Board of Selectmen.”
While the center can hold 32 seated guests, due to COVID limitations, it’s allowing no more than 20 guests to sign up for lunch. Eventually, that number will increase, depending upon COVID rates, Speck said.
Lunches are being prepared on a rotating basis by six Kent facilities and schools: High Watch Recovery Center, Club Getaway, Davis IGA, South Kent School, Kent Center School and Marvelwood School.
Each one will deliver ready-made meals for volunteers to serve to the seniors.
The kick-off lunch on Friday will be provided by South Kent School. The meal will be prepared at South Kent School’s dining hall and delivered by several students, as part of their community service with the town. The students will also serve the
lunch to the seniors.
“They’ll sit with the seniors and enjoy the meal,” Speck said.
The town will provide beverages and servingware each week.
‘A place for them’
The town looks to make some improvements at the senior center. It has already purchased some new seating.
Additionally, the town is looking to get a large Smart TV to be able to hold movie afternoons.
Kent Memorial Library is donating some puzzles to the center.
Speck envisions the center as a social gathering place for seniors.
“It would be nice to
have the senior center open so that a group of seniors can just come in and have a knitting circle, or sit around and chat,” Speck said. She added to be able to gather socially “is so important for not only everyone’s mental health, but there’s science that shows it keeps seniors healthy. Seniors want to stay in their homes, and we want to be able to help them do that by creating a social center for them.”
Staffing issues
The only way the center can provide the kind of service to seniors that Speck envisions is through staffing, and the town currently has no park and recreation director,
and its social services director is leaving in January. Additionally, there is no senior center coordinator.
“There’s nothing from a space standpoint that is preventing us from holding regular hours,” Speck said. “We need the human resources to come up with programming and be there for the programming — whether it’s to unlock the building and make a pot of coffee, to getting a speaker in or somebody to come teach knitting or whatever the programs or interest is for the seniors.”
She added there’s a group of volunteers in town who want to help in any way.
She referred to the center
is “a work in progress.”
“We are really excited to push forward and bring this place to what it should be,” she said.
Lunch will be served at noon every Friday. While there’s a suggested donation of $2, no one will be turned away. Those who are interested may call Town Hall at 860-927-4627 by Friday morning. Proof of a COVID-19 vaccine is not needed for entry. However, masks are required for all guests except for while they’re having their meal. The center is open to Kent residents age 65 and older. There are no income restrictions.