| A senior
citizens program in Cohoes was established on September 22, 1967,
instituted with a $6000 check from the Albany Catholic Diocese. Rev.
Gregory Weider, assistant pastor of St. Agnes Church in Cohoes, was
active in creating the Cohoes Neighborhood Center and the Cohoes
Community Center. He co-founded the Neighborhood Center with Rev.
George F. O'Brien of Troy Catholic Charities, and he was a member of
the Cohoes Opportunity for Economic Development (COED), which
coordinated various anti-poverty agencies in
the city. He was secretary of the Economic Opportunity Commission
and chairman of the Housing Environmental Research and Development
Center (HERD), a program created to provide senior citizens with
information, referral and counseling services, and encouragement for
them to become involved in community programs offering recreational,
social, educational and cultural activities. A library was opened
to provide access to the more than 2000 books that were donated to
the Senior Citizens Center. The Center was housed at the Cohoes
Neighborhood Center, located in the Silliman Memorial Presbyterian
Church. Twenty-two young women! members of Keveny Academy's senior
class, volunteered to assist with the senior citizens programs,
spending several hours per week serving as receptionists,
coordinating entertainment and activities for seniors, telephoning
and visiting those unable to visit the center, and writing and
editing the newsletter the Senior Gazette. Activities offered for
seniors included day trips to the Catskills and Vermont, holiday
parties, bowling leagues, talent shows, and a choral group that
would later be known as the Silvertops. The Cohoes Senior Citizens
Orchestra was formed in 1975.
The original players were: Leonard Ouimet - drums, Ed Potvin violin,
Jake Kowalski - mandolin! Nelson Willsey - washtub. John Bouchard!
the orchestra director, played the accordion.
In 1969, ground was broken for the Jay McDonald Towers; the highrise
apartment building for senior citizens would be completed in the
summer of 1972. By November of that year, membership in the Cohoes
Senior Center exceeded 2000. The center received support from the
City of Cohoes, Cohoes Model Cities Program, New York State Office
for the Aging, Albany County, and United Way of the Mohawk-Hudson
Area. In December 1974, home delivery of meals to seniors (which
would be called the "Meals on Wheels" program) was started. The
Senior Center moved in July 1974 from 96 Mohawk Street to 15 Seneca
Street, the location of the former St. Bernard's Convent (shown
here).
Architectural plans for a new Senior Center building, created by
architects Einhorn and Yaffee, were reviewed in 1975, and the next
year ground was broken on a site adjacent to McDonald Towers, just
north of the intersection of Remsen and Cayuga Streets. More than
five hundred fifty people donated to the fund drive for the
building. Cayuga Plaza, where the new senior center was located, was
formally dedicated by Mayor Ronald Canestrari in November 1977. The
center itself officially opened in September 1978, with Michael
Cooley as executive director. Cooley retired as director in 2007 and
Keith Hornbrook was appointed the new
executive director.
The Senior Center, now called the Cohoes Multi-Service Senior
Citizen Center, continues to be a vital organization in the
community, providing meals! activities, and various services for the
city's older residents. Membership is open to anyone over the age of
60; those between 50 and 60 can participate in center activities
that do not have state or federal age requirements. Among the
center's activities are bingo, AARP driving classes, Tai Chi,
swimming, exercise classes, bowling, ceramics and bridge. Services
include transportation, caregiver support, hearing and blood
pressure clinics, and assistance with social services including
Legal Aid, Medicaid! and food stamps. The center also encourages
senior citizens to be active members in their community and
participate in outreach programs at nursing homes. With all of these
endeavors, the center clearly seeks to fulfill its mission "To
promote the dignity of older adults living in the community and to
provide programs and services needed to support their living healthy
and productive lives."
For more information about the Cohoes Multi-Service Senior Citizen
Center, contact us
or call 518-235-2420.
Thanks to Myrtle Stott for providing information used in this
article and the
Spindle City
Historical Society.
|
Cohoes
