Paw Paw Senior Center moves into former Cedar Street Elementary School building

Senior Center finds a bigger home in downtown Paw Paw

The Senior Center in Paw Paw has officially opened its doors at a new location, moving from Freshwater Church to the former Cedar Street Elementary School building at 555 Cedar Street.

The center welcomed its first group of seniors Thursday, Sept. 3, and the first event featured a welcome lunch hosted by students from the Paw Paw High School football team.

"Having our senior football players welcome the seniors to their lunch today," said Jeremy Davison, superintendent of the Paw Paw public schools. "We get to meet each other, maybe hear a few things and just have a good time," said Ryan Lasinski, a student at the high school. "A lot of them, we've talked about the game tonight or asked us if we've won. It's just spiked conversations."

Growing membership drives the move

Anne Belecki, director of the Senior Center, said the center had outgrown its previous facility. Each month, the center adds about ten or more new members. The center serves an average of 75 to 100 seniors a day, and at the previous location, all activities and fitness classes were crammed into just two rooms.

"Majority of the new members who have come through our doors have said, I've recently lost a spouse. I need to get out of the house. I need to make friends," Belecki said. "It's so important for us, with our aging community here, to give them a place to call home."

Six rooms dedicated to programming

The new facility gives the center six separate rooms, each designed for its own activity. The rooms include the community room, the wellness studio, the fitness center, the zen den, the bingo room, and the recreation room.

The former Cedar Street Elementary School building still houses the Adult Education program and used to be home to the Paw Paw alternative education program. When the alternative program moved into the high school this fall, it opened up a large portion of the building, which the Intermediate School District and the community decided to use for the Senior Center.

"Being able to partner with the intermediate school district at one end and then having it as a community space here at this end of the building, it just made sense," Davison said. "There's definitely some excitement for the beginning of this new partnership."

The Senior Center is located at 555 Cedar Street in downtown Paw Paw.