Back in July, NorCo Exec Tara Zrinski told County Council she was working on a "sustainable operating plan" to save the Northampton Senior Center. Earlier in the year, cuts in federal and state funding had already resulted in the closure of a dozen senior centers across Pennsylvania have already closed, with 40 more on the chopping blck..
She suggested that an autonomous community group could provide volunteers for a newly organized nonprofit like Neighbors in Need. to provide a safe setting fand social interaction or seniors.
Her efforts fell short.
"We tried," she lamented at last week's county council meeting. "We tried to make an agreement to provide a grant to the senior center in Northampton Borough. We even got matching funds and additional state support from Senator Nick Miller to operate one independently while hiring an individual to oversee the senior programming. But the Grace UCC Church voted the proposal down because "the complexity of getting grants and running a senior center would be too much responsibility," even if Northampton Borough agreed to operate it.
"Good intentions often don't land where we want them to," she said.
I believe Zrinski could find the funding for Northampton by merging two senior centers on south side Bethlehem that are within a stone's throw from each other. One is located at the Rooney building, and the other at the Hispanic center. At a time when we should be more inclusive and have even established a Human Relations Commission, why would we want to have separate senior centers for those who speak Spanish and those who don't? With the money saved by this merger, it might be possible to continue the senior center in Northampton.
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