Swinging Sixties Senior Center reopens!
On Monday August 23, 2021 Swinging Sixties Senior Center (211 Ainslie Street) finally reopened for seniors, with limitations. The senior center will be open at a 25% capacity, which translates to around forty seniors in the dining room at one time. There are also restrictions on the type of activities which are allowed in the center, for instance no physical activities or bingo are allowed. The center is not serving lunch as of yet, but hopes to around mid-September.
“The older adults are excited to finally have their center back- a place where they feel safe and at home, where they can socialize with one another and have that much needed sense of belonging and community that they’ve been missing for over a year now,” said Robin Sirota-Bassin, manager of Swinging Sixties Senior Center and Director of Social Services at Southside United HFDC–Los Sures.
Phil Caponegro and Frank Citera, respectively the president and vice president of Conselyea Street Block Association (CSBA) are excited for the reopening. CSBA founded the senior center around forty years ago.
Since the Swinging Sixties was closed due to COVID-19 protocols, the senior center served as an emergency food pantry hub to help feed thousands of seniors and mobile limited elderly, and the from this May through July became a City vaccination site to help vaccinate community in particular neighborhood seniors. All of the above was due to the organizing effort by community leaders.
“We are thrilled that our seniors are coming back! It’s a wonderful day for the community and we are elated with what is going on in the Center,” said Caponegro
Citera said, “I’m very happy about what is transpiring, however we have to be careful to protect our seniors and we are taking all steps to be very cautious.”
The Greenline 