Maple Street Senior Center celebrates Lebanon Valley Senior Center merger

The Maple Street Senior Center held an event May 27 celebrating its merger with the Lebanon Valley Senior Center, where MSCC members came together to enjoy refreshments and hear about the history of the organization.

“Once the city bought this building, the Area (Agency) of Aging moved into this facility, and so then Maple Street Senior Center emerged,” center manager Barbara Yeagley explained. “For a long period of time, we were operating as two separate entities, and there was a lot of tension with how things were going to work and operate as two separate centers.”

Yeagley said that when she came on board around a year and a half ago, she began working on communications and relationships toward a possible merger. Around November, the LVSC operating board expressed interest in merging, and it was made official in February.

Yeagley explained that the senior center once operated independently, with its own staffing, before the Area Agency on Aging took a leading role.

The center, as well as all other Lebanon County senior centers, is open to all senior residents of the county. Yeagley said her biggest challenge now is getting the word out to seniors and encouraging participation in its programs.

In particular, Yeagley said, the center is working on ways to reach the Latino community. She mentioned a possible partnership with WEPA Empowerment Center. The center is considering translating calendars to Spanish for seniors who are not fluent in English, as well as setting up at events like the Latino Festival to provide information.

“There’s so many people in the area that live literally blocks away and don’t realize the senior center is here, so we want to really make sure that our community knows about the resource that they have,” said Yeagley.

The Area Agency on Aging website states that 38,154 out of Lebanon’s 143,493 residents are 60 and older, with Yeagley noting that Lebanon has a higher percentage of seniors than most locations in the state or country.

“That’s pretty substantial when we think about the community that we need to reach, and too many of our seniors are dying alone,” said Yeagley. “They’re isolated, they’re not finding connection because they don’t have any other family members, and this is the way to bring them in so they can continue to thrive, not just survive but really thrive. I really believe that’s the mission that we have here.”

Programs at MSSC include various fitness programs (such as line dancing, pickleball, and ping pong), arts (including needle and diamond arts), and bingo. Yeagley talked about a monthly lunch social, a movie day, and other social activities encouraging community among seniors.

She also mentioned the possibility of partnering with Lebanon’s senior housing developments to get the word out about programs.

“I think, especially now that we’re heading towards good weather, that it’d be a great opportunity to think about gathering a team and even going door to door and just giving them a calendar and saying, ‘hey, do you know that we’re down the road?'” said Yeagley. “Seeing if we can reach those people that are just living alone, living isolated. I think COVID unfortunately did a lot of that, where people are still in that mindset of staying away from others.”

Seniors who would like more information on MSSC can call Yeagley at (717) 273-9262, ext. 5538, learn more about programs at its website, or visit the center at 710 Maple St.