May 21, 2009
Seniors Centre gets help from feds
Langley Senior Resources Centre has received a $23,494 Capital Assistance grant, under the federal New Horizons for Seniors Program.
Langley MP Mark Warawa made the announcement Wednesday morning at the centre, 20605 51B Ave., on behalf of Marjory LeBreton, minister of state for seniors.
Warawa said the New Horizons program has assisted 5,000 programs since its inception, and the intent of the program is to help seniors remain active, contributing members of society.
And he thanked the staff of the seniors centre, including director of operations Sharon Birnie, for their dedication through the years, and particularly during the closure by fire more than one year ago.
“This would not be possible without your participation,” he said, of the centre, which re-opened its doors on May 11.
On April 28, 2008, fire heavily damaged the seniors centre, and for more than a year the programs were operated out of a temporary location, the former Apex Secondary School, 20060 Fraser Hwy.
Warawa said that the money will be used for renovations and equipment, which includes, with a $5,400 donation from Langley Township, repairs to the entrance doorways, and kitchen equipment.
Township Councillor Grant Ward attended the press conference on behalf of Mayor Rick Green.
Birnie said that the fire had been traumatic for many of the seniors, some of whom had been attending at the centre for some 16 years.
“People don’t understand how traumatic that can be . . . when you are 85 or 90.”
She said that the temporary location had cut the number of seniors using the centre’s programs by about 30 per cent, because some seniors had not been able to easily access the temporary location on Fraser Highway.
Now only in the second week back in the renovated facility, membership is returning.
An indicator of that is the food sales in the cafeteria, which prior to the fire had run around $500 to $600 daily, dropping in the temporary facility to between $300 and $400 daily.
Yesterday, food sales for the day were back up at the $500 to $600 mark, she said.
However, she said Langley City’s provision of the school had been a blessing, and the only possible location that could have contained the many seniors’ programs.
A number of programs are still not up and operating, including computers and the pool room, and because of the strain on the Langley Senior Resources Centre Society’s finances because of the fire, the centre will open only six days per week, not Sunday, for some time.
Warawa also announced that as part of the federal government’s Economic Action Plan, the income tax age credit increase of $1,000 will allow seniors and additional $150 in tax savings this year.
And $200 million in tax relief will reduce the required minimum RRSP withdrawal by 25 per cent, in recognition of the impact of the deterioration in market conditions on retirement savings.
He said Ottawa will spend $60 million over the next three years in the Targeted Initiative for Older Workers, and another $400 million over the next two years, through Affordable Housing, for low income housing for seniors.
