Socializing a Key Aspect of Tarrytown Senior Center

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August 3, 2016

by Krista Madsen

The following article on Tarrytown’s Senior Center is a first in a series, which will also include the senior centers in Sleepy Hollow and Irvington plus Neighborhood House in Tarrytown.

It wouldn’t be a senior center without BINGO

“God forbid you should not have BINGO,” said Tarrytown Senior Center President Janet Freund. But the building on West Main Street offers so much more.

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“It’s the camaraderie,” said member Connie Cappuzzello. “That’s what it is. The socializing – and the trips.” The group has seen Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway and is looking forward to an August boat ride around Manhattan. The casino excursions are also a hit. “They keep us busy,” she said.

Tarrytown-Seniors-Group-PAGE-22 — (L-R:) Gino Occhipinti, Rose Occhipinti, Connie Cappuzzello, Sandy Hecker and Ada Delcarpine

Joe Arduino, Tarrytown Recreation Director, said, “99 percent of what we do is to get them socializing.”

On a recent Tuesday for their bimonthly membership meeting, the round tables in the hall were full of about 80 – “a light turn-out,” Freund said. Usually they get about 120 of their 250 members for the meeting that ends in cake, a 50-50 raffle, and leads to BINGO. It is summer when attendance is generally lower, but the board does see a need for better marketing.

The population is aging, and Vice President Bob Errico said the younger seniors (the minimum age to join here is 60) are less inclined to come, particularly those without long roots in town.

“We need a hard-selling job to get them here,” Errico said. “Over the years we’ve lost a lot; that comes with the territory.”

“We’d love to see more people utilizing this,” Tarrytown Trustee Becky McGovern said.

The seniors have a direct line to village government in McGovern, who has visited the senior meetings to give announcements and answer questions for all the nine years she’s been in office, addressing concerns that day on everything from the hydrant flushing to the status of the new rec building next door.

“I took this under my wing,” she said. “I just felt that they have good questions and want the information. And they need to feel heard.”

McGovern said the biggest concern seniors continue to address – with the center now finding itself adjacent to a very popular park and new recreation center any day now – is parking.

The village will be reformatting the parking and adding 12 spaces, plus issuing stickers for recreation center members. There’s also the senior van available for anyone in need of a ride.

“We have a lovely center. The perfect location. It’s just the parking right now,” Freund said.

“You have to be patient,” Errico said, laughingly adding, “Old people aren’t patient.”

The village allots a small budget for the center of $27,900 annually, which they put toward catering holiday parties and other events and activities. The center is its own nonprofit entity, and very self-sufficient, McGovern said.

Parking concerns aside, members are looking forward to enjoying the rec center next door, where seniors will be able to join for $50 a year. Now they have exercise here three days a week and yoga on Thursdays. Monday BINGO, five cents per card, is open to any Tarrytown resident, not only seniors.

The group is looking into getting computer classes going in the fall as this isn’t the most computer-savvy set. “We can’t do email. A lot of seniors don’t have it,” Freund said.

They do have a phone tree to notify members of funerals and events. The group manages to keep people connected without technology and despite some long-standing ties to one high school or another.

All under this Tarrytown umbrella now, some old-timers still hold onto those goodnatured rivalries. Treasurer Joe Iurato was a basketball player for North Tarrytown and Errico was on the baseball and football teams at Washington Irving. “The rivalry is so wild it has continued,” Errico said.

But really it all comes back to the camaraderie. Mary Bethea said she’s attended every meeting since 2007. “Everything is good. It’s about coming out and being with the people,” she said.

Tina Whitely said that she goes on “as many trips as I can,” and through the center has been able to get “reacquainted with a lot of the people from my childhood.”
For more information on the Tarrytown Senior Center or to join, contact (914) 909-1094. Suggested annual donation is $15. The center is located at 240 W. Main Street,

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