Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 11, 1995 TAG: 9510110050
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ELISSA MILENKY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Two rooms are being renovated at the Blacksburg Recreation Center, a project that should be completed by Nov. 1, said Parks Director Bill Winfrey. Plans for a more permanent center are still under discussion but should be presented to the Blacksburg Town Council by January.
"This will give them [seniors], you might say, a place of their own away from traffic," Winfrey said.
The town budgeted $20,000 for the renovations, though Winfrey said all of that money might not be needed to finish improvements of the approximately 1,300-square-foot area. The Public Works Department is handling the renovations.
One of the rooms will be a meeting place with living room furniture and a small library. The other will be more of a multipurpose room for discussion groups and craft programs. Activities not specific to seniors will be scheduled in the rooms after 4 p.m., Winfrey said.
"I don't think that all senior activities need to be separate," Winfrey said. "Just some activities don't mix well."
Efforts to build a senior center began several years ago when seniors noticed that people who did not want to join the local American Association of Retired Persons chapter or New Dimensions, a group for retired Virginia Tech professors, had few social outlets, said Ray Murley, a Blacksburg resident and former AARP president.
"We felt there was a large group here we were not reaching," Murley said.
The seniors formed a committee and approached the Blacksburg Town Council with the idea of an independent center, a concept Murley said received a lot of support.
Building a senior center became one of the council's strategic goals for 1994-1996. A portion of the money generated from the town's cigarette and lodging taxes, which were both increased by the Town Council this spring, will go toward building a permanent senior citizens center.
The tentative budget to build the center is $400,000, Winfrey said, but seniors first have to come up with a definite plan before a more definite figure is available . Possibilities include adding on to the community or aquatics center, taking over an existing building or house or buying property and building a new facility.
Space for a wood shop, computers, exercise equipment and a general room for discussion groups and meals are among the requests for the future senior center, Winfrey and Murley said.
Winfrey said Town Council wants to see a plan by January, when the capital improvement projects plan appears on the agenda.
by CNB