Senior Center is 25 years young!

By Melissa Fili
MethuenLife Writer

What began as a twinkle in the eye of one Methuen man has become a 25-year-old cornerstone of life for many local senior citizens.
The Methuen Senior Activity Center, on Lowell Street, is marking its quarter-century anniversary May 8 — which just happens to fall during Older Americans Month. The celebration will coincide with the center’s annual Open House and Arts, Crafts and Music Festival, set from 10 am to 3 pm.
The day will also be designated as “Rene J. Morissette Day,” in honor of the man “who devoted more than 30 years of his life (to) building and developing the Center as we know it today,” according to activities coordinator Sue Foster. The Morissette Auditorium, named for Rene and his family, will display hundreds of senior-created art pieces.
Upon its opening in 1984, the facility was “known throughout the Commonwealth as the Taj Mahal” of senior centers, said Foster.
“The project involved hundreds of community volunteers who donated their skills such as electrical, plumbing, painting and others. The Navy Seabees even did the sheet rocking,” she added. “It was a tribute to community activism at its best.”
The two-level building began with 75 seniors and offered the Meals on Wheels program, a knitting class, one exercise class and a chorus group.
Director Corinne LaCharite came on board about five years after the center’s doors opened: “Rene told me, ‘This is the building. Now you need to fill it up.’ “
And fill it, she has!
The nutrition program and classes have been mainstays over the past 25 years, but the center’s number of offerings has exploded in order to serve the needs of up to 500 active members. There are now a dozen exercise classes including weight training and yoga; an expansive art program that teaches everything from Japanese bunka to quilting; as well as health-care clinics, computer classes, veterans programs and financial workshops. The center’s Happy Hearts Chorus performs regularly there, and also travels the Merrimack Valley wowing audiences.
Methuen’s Senior Center has received many awards as a “Model of Excellence” and been honored for Outstanding Volunteer Recruitment and Development, the Service to Citizens Award and the Massachusetts Fran Pratt Award for outstanding intergenerational programs.
Perhaps more important than the center’s offerings is the camaraderie shared by its members. Strangers have become friends who learn new skills, line dance, play shuffleboard, laugh during ice-cream socials and show concern when a familiar face falls ill. They are experiencing their Golden Years together, and the center has certainly been a big part of the joy found in those years.
LaCharite says the center counts on its volunteers to keep programs running smoothly and to make sure that seniors’ needs are being met — whether it’s carrying lunch trays for those who have difficulty walking, driving folks to doctor appointments or visiting the home-bound to chat. A large majority of the volunteers are seniors themselves.
“Our volunteers put in hundreds of thousands of hours every year,” said LaCharite. “They are how we do what we do.”
LaCharite said that Rene Morissette set the bar high for the center and its staff.
“The passion and skills mix is crucial and necessary to make any job work at a level of excellence,” she said. “Rene always expected excellence and I think of that each time I fill a position.”
Morissette, who died in 2004, was instrumental in every phase of the center’s development. His widow Elaine, who remains an active and integral part of the center and the Council On Aging, is thrilled that Rene’s idea has become such a vibrant part of many Methuen seniors’ lives.
“He had a dream,” Elaine says. “The building has peaked with its services and programs and he would be proud of that.”
What’s next for the Senior Center? To continue striving to meet the needs of local seniors, says LaCharite.
She knows a senior who was recently discharged from the hospital without her medication. After three days, the Senior Center heard of the woman’s plight and the medicine was picked up and delivered to her. LaCharite would like to start some type of program so that such a potentially dangerous situation does not happen again.
“I’d also like to get a big-screen TV, so that we can all cheer on the Red Sox and Patriots together!” laughed LaCharite.
No matter the programs or purchases, the Methuen Senior Activity Center will continue to be a welcoming place for the city’s senior citizens. And that would make Rene Morissette smile.
After all, as he wrote in the center’s 2004 20th Anniversary Souvenir Brochure: “All have made it possible to make our Center a ‘home-away-from-home’ for all seniors with a warm, friendly, and comfortable atmosphere.”
In 2009, his dream continues to be fulfilled.

Gearing up for the Methuen Senior Activity Center’s silver anniversary May 8 are Elaine Morissette (left) and the center’s director Corinne LaCharite. Elaine’s late husband, Rene, was the driving force behind the creation of the 17,000-square-foot center, while Elaine is a longtime active member who serves as executive secretary of the Methuen Senior Center Inc. Board of Trustees and with the Methuen Council On Aging. Photo by Melissa Fili.