There are many senior centers in New York, but few are characterized by the joy of Sunset Park United Senior Center.
Olga Lebrón, a member of the Sunset Park United Center for the Elderly, talks about what she feels about this place:
“I love food, people and I love to dance! I don’t know what happened to the couple, a little one who came here, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah ”.
Founded in 1978, the center is located on 53rd Street between 4th and 5th Streets and has become a meeting point for people aged 60 and over.
In addition to celebrating life through music and dance, the ladies and gentlemen who visit the center learn English as a second language and learn to use a computer.
Some come Monday through Friday to socialize and have fun.
Humberto Arauz, a member of the Sunset Park United Senior Center, says:
“I like to come and distract myself for a while because I’m already retired and I’m tired of being locked up in the house.”
Grisel Amador, of Hatillo Puerto Rico, director of the Sunset Park United Center for the Elderly since 1988, says that although they were closed for more than a year during the pandemic, they never stopped serving their members:
“We had a program called ‘Wellness Call’, it’s where members of the center were called daily to find out how they were doing, what they needed, what we could do for them.”
For her, working with the elderly was her life mission.
“The maximum is the power I serve, I am here to serve them”, he emphasizes.
There are several seniors working in the center, such as Graciela from Cali, Colombia, who has been working on this site for 16 of her 88 years.
Graciela Forero, employee of the United Center for the Elderly in Sunset Park, points out:
“I love my job, I love it because I am the one who takes care of people”.
“They come here and they are better, I don’t know, it is something I say is very necessary to leave the house, not to be locked up because depression, sadness, loneliness, all this means that you get sick” He adds.
The center is open door and offers services such as breakfast and lunch, help finding accommodation and discount cards, among many others.
For more information, you can call 718 – 439 – 8646, or come in person.
