Screening room, table tennis, classrooms are expected
BY STELLA MORRISON
Staff Writer
Originally printed in the Sentinel
The expansion will focus on health and wellness activities for seniors. The 5,000- square-foot space will include classrooms, a room for table tennis, a small exercise room, and a private room for preventive screenings.
“Seniors are excited about being able to do a one-stop shop, where they can come in and visit a physician and get screenings,” state Assemblywoman Donna M. Simon (R-16th District) told the Sentinel. “The seniors are a wonderful community and I think what the county and locals are doing for them is incredible.”
The $2 million tab for the project was split evenly between Middlesex County and South Brunswick Township; the county provided matching funds in the form of a grant from its Open Space and Recreation Fund.
“With this combination of funding, the senior center will expand and upgrade to include this wellness center,” Middlesex County Freeholder Ronald Rios said. “This wellness center will offer opportunities for exercise and other health-related activities and will help to boost the area’s high quality of life.”
Ideas for an expansion were first brought up around 2008, when Councilman Charlie Carley became the township liaison to the senior center.
“There was unanimous sentiment that we need space for wellness programs,” Carley said.
Currently, a multipurpose room is used for all the health and wellness activities, which does not provide much privacy during screenings.
“This room is used for many activities, so there was a sense that we want dedicated space for wellness programs,” Carley said.
Carley acknowledged that the senior center could not be completed without “two halves of a walnut”: cooperation from South Brunswick citizens and support from Middlesex County.
“The first half is that the people of South Brunswick had foresight over the years,” Carley said. “They approved referenda that approved money for facilities like this. The second half is our friends in county government, who have been spectacular to us over the years.”
County Freeholder Carol Barrett Bellante, who is the former South Brunswick deputy mayor and senior advisory liaison, was a “key component” to cooperation between South Brunswick and the county, Carley said. “She took this project under her arm and did a great job,” Carley said. Bellante told the audience that the senior center has been “a dream since 1999,” and that she is delighted to see construction begin.
“The saddest part for me about becoming a Freeholder was not being able to spend every day at the senior center,” Bellante said. “But you were always in my heart, and this addition never left my heart.”
Senior advisory council member Jean Starks thanked the township for working with the seniors.
“The township council has worked with the advisory council every step of the way in planning this, and we’re going to get something that the township will be able … to be proud of,” Starks said.
South Brunswick Mayor Frank Gambatese believes that the township’s senior center is the best in the county, and possibly the best in the state.
“This is a great day for South Brunswick,” Gambatese said. “Mayors ask me how we continue to spend the money without opposition from the rest of the town. I say it’s very simple, that we have a community of people that really cares about each other. It’s not the seniors versus the younger people, or people who are just moving into town. We all work together. If there is a need, we see it.”
Pending no problems and a mild winter, the expansion should be ready by late June 2013.