Eight Catholic Charities Brooklyn and Queens (CCBQ) Senior Centers are in jeopardy of being shut down due to the proposed budget cuts announced by the New York City Department for the Aging.
CCBQ Senior Centers are vital to thousands of older New Yorkers who are living on fixed incomes and who are already struggling to make ends meet. Our Senior Centers not only offer recreational and multicultural activities, they also provide hot lunches, entitlement counseling, crucial social services that allow older adults stay healthy and lead productive lives.
If the senior centers are forced to close their doors, the effects on our seniors will be detrimental. This will truly be devastating to the 1,150 seniors who rely on these CCBQ Senior Centers every day for a hot meal, activities, services and support. Seniors will be forced to choose between food and paying for other expenses, such as, medicine and rent. Isolation and depression among older adults, many who are widowed, will only increase if our doors close.
Catholic Charities Senior Centers are among the 105 senior centers in jeopardy of closing because of the loss of Title XX funds.
The CCBQ Senior Centers facing closure are:
Glenwood Senior Center in Flatbush, Brooklyn
Northside Senior Center in Williamsburg, Brooklyn
St. Charles Jubilee Senior Center in Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn
The Bay Senior Center in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn
Narrows at the Lodge in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn
Seaside Senior Center in Rockaway Beach, Queens
Steinway Senior Center in Astoria, Queens
Woodhaven Senior Center in Richmond Hill, Queens
Act now to help save our senior centers. Join Catholic Charities in the statewide advocacy campaign led by the Human Service Council entitled “Who Cares? I Do.” We urge you to get involved by signing the online petition and contacting State Legislators to preserve our senior centers and other crucial social services to those who need it the most. For more information about the campaign to save human services, visit our web site at www.ccbq.org and www.whocares-ido.org.