By Howard Koplowitz
“It is a state-of-the-art senior citizen center,” said Rev. Harding Dunlop, the director of the center, during a Jan. 11 meeting of the Cambria Heights Civic Association.Clark said she did not notify the TimesLedger or other media about the senior center because she thought the center would put out its own news release.”It's a very exciting, new building. It's beautiful to look at,” she said. The center “needed another location for many, many years.”The assemblywoman said the some $1.5 she secured covered capital costs of the building.Dunlop said a city contract calls for Alpha Phi Alpha to serve 75 seniors warm meals each day, but he said it now averages about 90 a day.”That's a testament to the community we serve,” he said, noting that the center registered 267 new seniors to use its services.Alpha Phi Alpha is a traditional black fraternity founded at Cornell University in 1945, Dunlop said. Members of the group from southeast Queens decided that opening a senior center was a great way to give back to the community, he said.The center rented out the basement of the Cambria Heights Community Church for 32 years before moving into its new digs at 220-01 Linden Blvd.Aside from the meals, the center also provides computer classes because Alpha Phi Alpha's philosophy is “you don't stop learning when you get past 60,” Dunlop said. It also has a quilting club, bingo, tai chi instruction Ð the excited minister mimicked tai chi moves as he explained the center's services Ð and can make romantic connections, according to Dunlop.”You talk about men. I got two to three tables of men at Alpha Phi Alpha, ladies,” he said. “I try to get them from huddling about the football.”The group also plans trips to Atlantic City and upstate resorts.Clark said unlike the church basement, the new building is handicapped-accessible.City Councilman Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans) said he was working to secure $500,000 from the city for Alpha Phi Alpha to pay off construction costs and for supplies.Reach reporter Howard Koplowitz by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 173.
