By 11:30 a.m. volunteers are slinging cabbage rolls, sandwiches, soups and salads in the Sechelt Seniors Activity Centre kitchen as people settle in at the foldout tables dotting the auditorium. “It’s a good place to come, it’s reasonable,” said Ingrid Prosser, who eats lunch at the centre five days a week.
Prosser is one of the centre’s 1,200 members who rely on its popular lunch program and participate in the activities ranging from fitness, computer lessons and theatre that take place six days a week from 10 a.m. to as late as 10:30 p.m.
But she and the other members will have to shake up their routines as the centre undergoes an $800,000 expansion project intended to accommodate its membership, which president Charlie Jensen said is growing 10 per cent a year.
The front of the centre, located on Trail Avenue, will be extended by about five metres. “[We’re] putting in a dedicated dining room so we don’t have to set up tables in the auditorium, which loses us three hours a day,” said Jensen. Rather than being used as a makeshift lunch space, the auditorium will be freed up for activities. Other changes include major upgrades to the kitchen, including the installation of a walk-in freezer.
The fixed-contract project was approved at a February annual general meeting, and will be overseen by Solution Based Contracting. The centre has half the money it needs to fund the project and members will fundraise and apply for grants to make up the rest. “If need be we could take out a construction mortgage, but we don’t want to do that until absolutely necessary,” said Jensen.
During construction, which starts in June and is expected to run until October, the front of the building will be closed, and so will the kitchen, lounge, craft room, offices and other spaces. Fewer spaces also mean less room for activities. In total, eight of the nearly two-dozen activities will be cancelled, however half of those go on hiatus for the duration of summer regardless. Other activities have been moved to Davis Bay Hall and St. Hilda’s Anglican Church, which is undergoing renovations of its own. The price, $3 per activity, will remain the same. The pool at the Sechelt Aquatic Centre will also be closed from May 26 to June 24 for annual maintenance.
In addition to fewer activities, the lunch program will also be discontinued. “In a lot of cases it’s the main meals for seniors and we provide frozen entrees for those who can’t cook for themselves, and a lot of children and friends take them to shut-ins to provide them with nutritious meals,” said Jensen. Normally, the lunch program runs until the end of June and then shuts down for the summer, but this year the last lunch will be served May 18.
“I heard the Legion has a menu, and the Chinese place is open again,” said Ingrid Prosser, who said seniors often go there because it’s reasonably priced. “In the meantime, maybe I’ll have to go to a grocery store!” she said, laughing. “I drive, I have a car, so it’s not going to be a problem. But for some people who don’t have that, it may be.”
