RE: Center for Active Aging

Dear Editor,

I hope that my commentary on a very important issue hits home with people in our community who continuously put down our city officials for standing behind our need to have a community center here in Deerfield Beach which caters to an amazingly large segment of our city: our seniors. That includes me and, probably the folks that continue to criticize spending the money to build out, improve upon and continue to provide the many needed services those folks depend upon at our Center for Active Aging (CAA). The people who are in opposition will soon become elders in our hometown and will need the very services they are disregarding today. Take note of all the cities around us expanding services for seniors. Deerfield Beach has a 35 percent population over the age of 65. 

I have seen the face of a client asking for help getting their power turned back on because their retirement funds cannot stretch to include the most basic needs and I have seen the dedicated employees of this center step up to action every single time.

Some folks that attend CAA are coming for just a cup of coffee and companionship. Some come for the only hot meal of their day provided by Meals on Wheels. Some no longer drive and, without our many handicapped equipped vans to pick them up and deliver them home each day, they would live in isolation. Children and friends who depend upon a safe, clean environment for their loved ones with memory disorders count on the Day Care Center to be there for them.

Maybe the nay-sayers are blessed with large families and friends close by or are wealthy enough to afford the finest living arrangements. The reality is that many in our community live without the cushion of a nest-egg or a long lost rich uncle who has included them in his will. Are they all to be forgotten?

Yes, our existing building is old, tired; it needs time, attention and money to create a technologically advanced safe place for seniors and the children who are served. We need to have a beautiful environment that will attract younger folks to participate.

Check out the demographics of our city, folks. This center needs to be here and needs your support.

— Joan Gould, 30 year resident

President, Northeast Focal Point C.A.S.A. Board of Directors at The Center for Active Aging

[P.S. SAVE THE DATE: CUISINE OF THE REGION — APRIL 30 at the Deerfield Beach Doubletree Hilton — to benefit the Center for Active Aging].