On Thursday, May 9, I went a meeting of the Ways and Means Committee at the building labeled the John Zon Community Center. This building was created specifically for the Greenfield Senior Center but was given the name of John Zon Community Center at the last minute without any thought to the ramifications of calling the building a community center.
I went because I am a senior and a member of the Council on Aging (COA) and the COA budget would be discussed. Above all, I wanted to be at this meeting because I’d come to admire the four women who keep the extremely busy Greenfield Senior Center running smoothly. Three of the staff whom I have known for well over a decade are Hope McCary, director, Kathy Dunn, activities director, and Mary Ann Socquet, fiscal manager. In 2017, Avery Schleeweis became the volunteer coordinator at the Greenfield Senior Center and immediately joined in the staff’s tireless activity.
My career has been in communications, first in England, then France, and now the U.S. I’ve needed to coordinate with a variety of people and move projects off my desk smoothly as well as looking as if I enjoy every challenge! I understand hard work and the women who staff the Greenfield Senior Center truly work hard. As a result, Greenfield has an excellent center for seniors. That’s why it shocked me when Hope McCary was asked queries –– nothing to do with the Greenfield Senior Center budget –– in accusatory tones. Basically, the various questions boiled down to: “Why is this building not operating as a community center?”
My astonished thought was, Why ask that of the director of the Greenfield Senior Center? As the questions continued, I wondered why would anyone think that the Greenfield Senior Center would also run the John Zon Community Center? When you go to a restaurant, do you expect the wait staff or the chef to repair and service your car? When you visit the doctor, do you expect to see shelves of groceries so you can do your food shopping? One councilor noted that he wasn’t there “to rake anyone over the coals.” After the questioning. Here’s the gist of what I said when I spoke to the Ways and Means Committee (Thank you, Chair Otis Wheeler, for allowing public comment).
1. The number of programs has more than doubled since the Greenfield Senior Center moved to the new building on Pleasant Street. Membership has also increased greatly to some 2,000. Plenty of non-members come to the Greenfield Senior Center for the excellent, often free, programs. The frustrating truth is that the number of additional users of the building is hidden because only member visits are counted.
2. Let’s look at the budget: the Greenfield Senior Center has three full-time staff and one part-time staff. Newsflash: the city only pays for 2.3 full time staff. How is everyone paid? The Greenfield Senior Center director must write grants to cover the shortfall.
3. To date, the John Zon Community Center does not have any budget or any staff. No money, no staff, nothing. “Why,” frustrated residents ask, “isn’t the place open for community events?” The answer is simple: “It’s impossible to to run a place without money or staff.” Our Greenfield Charter notes that the “Council on Aging has management of the Senior Center.” Our Charter does not mention a community center. Is it realistic to expect the mission of the Greenfield Senior Center to change? Otis Wheeler, chair of the Ways & Means Committee, suggested funding someone to help manage community events at the John Zon Community Center.
4. The four Greenfield Senior Center staff work hard to incorporate “community center” programs as well as youth and all-age programs. The GSA has 25 community partnerships with various agencies. Many of the programs offered are multi-age friendly: the Greenfield Senior Center student-seniors walking group; the Books and Bagels reading program with students and seniors; the Mixed Age Dance Performance Group, “Seniority.”
5. The Greenfield Senior Center staff has a full work week but put in extra hours when city departments, boards or commissions wish to meet at the building named the John Zon Community Center. And yes, this is not in their job descriptions and there is no funding for these extra hours.
My personal experience has been that each of the staff of four women at the Greenfield Senior Center works incredibly hard and does a marvelous job of creating a welcoming place that offers many excellent programs. I and others applaud Otis Wheeler’s suggestion to budget funds for someone to manage community events.
Hazel Dawkins is a resident of Greenfield.