VIEWPOINT: East Hampton Senior Center Offers an Amazing Deal, and Many Other Services

Would you believe … $2.50 for lunch?

You read that right — $2.50, Monday through Friday, at the East Hampton Senior Citizens Center at 128 Springs-Fireplace Road: salad, entrée, bread, milk, lemonade, tea, coffee, dessert and an occasional surprise — a zucchini, say, for everyone to take home.

Like some registrants, you also might want to take home some of the food you can’t finish. It’s that plentiful. And good.

A monthly calendar flags each day’s specials. Meal substitutions are accepted with advance notice.

This extraordinary bargain — along with a host of various programs that include adult day care, nutrition education, transportation, exercise and in-home residential assistance — is offered by the East Hampton Town Department of Human Services.

And these services, and the lunches, could not be more timely, given the demographics. Data show a 56 percent increase in adults ages 85 and older, over the last decade, in Suffolk County — a national trend, with Suffolk County now the fourth most populous county in the state with seniors.

The East Hampton Town Board recently committed capital monies to design and construct a new, larger senior center on 7 acres at 403 Abrahams Path in Amagansett; although an architectural firm has been hired, seniors might think of attending town meetings or questioning local candidates (via Zoom or in person) to ensure that this important project gets underway ASAP.

As guest speaker Dr. Fredric Weinbaum, interim chief administrative officer at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, recently told a packed room of seniors and staff at the center, delays are part of doing construction. But he was pleased to say that the timetable for opening the hospital’s new emergency room on Pantigo Road in East Hampton was set for December 2024, and it will feature items of particular interest to seniors: MRI and CT scans, and immediate attention to strokes.

It would be heartening if the new senior center were under construction at the same time. Meanwhile, looking somewhat the worse for wear on the outside, and with old but serviceable space and equipment within, the East Hampton Senior Citizens Center delivers, as it did during COVID, making house calls with frozen meals, a service still available.

The presentation of full meals on real plates with silverware makes a statement. It says, in effect, that this is a dining room (its round tables sit up to eight each). Though table hopping is relatively rare — folks kind of claim their own — a friend who came with me for the first time said that the “table situation” reminded her a bit of school: where to sit? are there cliques? But she was assured that “any open chair was just fine,” and she was pleased to meet new people, including neighbors.

People come as often as they want, knowing that they will have collegiality, social interaction that is, perhaps, even more important than the food.

The monthly menu is distinctive for its variety. A look was enough for my friend to join me. She had assumed that the facility would be filled with the halt and the lame. Hardly so, but those with physical or mental challenges, if accompanied by professional aides, are made to feel welcome.

Of course, you have to be over 60 to get the great lunch. If you’re an aide over 60, you can join in. If you’re an aide who’s younger, you can still participate, though it will cost $6 — still a good deal.

As if the lunches were not enough, my friend was surprised, as was I, to learn of other offerings: transportation, how-ya-doin’ calls, helpful handymen (or women) who will come to your house for free to help with chores, such as changing a light bulb or lifting a machine.

There are also exercise and yoga classes. A regular attendee, a professional organist and choral conductor, is working on getting an old piano tuned up; his partner is already planning American Song Book quizzes.

In pre-COVID days, the center offered movies, including HD opera. Meanwhile, the conductor, along with his partner, are quick to disappear after lunch to an adjoining room on bingo days.

For sure, other towns offer similar senior services, but what sets the East Hampton Center apart, as corny as it sounds, is a palpable sense of community, good will, a spirit of camaraderie between staff and clientele, friendly volunteers who immediately remember new first names, and, for some, a late-in-life opportunity to make new friends.

For information, call Michelle Posillico, supervisor, 631-324-6711.

Joan Baum is a writer and book critic who lives in Springs.