St. Regis Senior Center opens for first lunch

ST. REGIS – St. Regis seniors got to begin the New Year with the first meal served in the new St. Regis Senior Citizen’s Center on Thursday, January 2.

Up until now, the senior center had been based out of the St. Regis Community Center, across the street from the new building. For the past month, the center’s supplies, furniture and other items were moved into its new home while the last of the construction was finished. According to Mary Burrows, bookkeeper of the center, the last of the equipment and supplies for the kitchen were moved in Monday, December 30.

However, the star of the day was not the new center itself, but the kitchen. According to Burrows, the new kitchen was filled with high quality commercial grade equipment, which Judy Calhoun, the center’s cook, described as state of the art. The first meal of the establishment consisted of meatloaf, potatoes, green beans and a peach crisp.

The new kitchen worked well for its first meal. As a commercial kitchen, it has different equipment, which has different capabilities. Burrows said the community center’s kitchen was good for family style meals where the new facility is designed for large, full-service meal preparation. The new kitchen also has plenty of storage and will allow Calhoun to store leftovers and pantry items bought in bulk.

The Senior Center Board is glad to be in their new home. Sharon Booth, president of the St. Regis center, could not find words to describe how it felt and what it meant to be moved into the new building.

“I love it…just look at it, it’s wonderful,” said Booth.

Booth was also very happy with the turnout of the first meal with people of all ages in attendance. Burrows estimated the main room was almost completely filled and said if more people came, more tables would have to be brought in. However, room occupancy is not the only area for improvement.

While it is operational, the center does still have more work to be done by the senior center staff. These are largely small cosmetic projects such as the placement of decorations in the rooms and pictures on the walls, among other things. The center will also look into contractors to have the parking lot paved or asphalted, to replace the current gravel lot. However, everything else is complete.

A series of grants and private donations funded the new center and the building is completely owned by the senior center. The seniors used the Community Development Block Grant to fund construction of the new building and the Rural Development Grant to outfit the kitchen. The senior center will only need to worry about operational expenses.

“There’s still other things we need grant money for that we’ll be [working on],” said Burrows.

While the center is now open, there are plans to hold a separate event to show off the new building and welcome the general public.

The St. Regis Senior Center’s grand opening will be held on Thursday, January 16 at noon. After the normally scheduled meal there will be a dedication ceremony with cake, punch, tours of the new facility and information on the services the new center will offer. The center will also accept suggestions on how to improve the services provided and ideas of what can be added.

Burrows explained the dedication was scheduled after the center was already open to allow Calhoun some time to get a feel for the new equipment. It also gives the center’s management a sense of how much space was available.

“[This way] we can see how many tables we’ll want to set up,” said Burrows. “It’s more of a shakedown cruise.”

The dedication will be at approximately 1:30 p.m. Thursday, January 16, after the normal lunch service.