Fighting for their ‘lifelines’

“No cuts! No cuts!”
This was the refrain from the over 100 seniors who braved the wind and cold on Thursday, December 16 to voice how they felt about the impending closure of their senior center.
“What are we to do? Where are we to go?” said Lorrean Graham, who first came to the center two years ago to help with her depression. “This is our lifeline.”
The seniors came out to try and save The Friendship Center, which specializes in mentally and physically frail senior citizens, many of whom have dementia. The Jamaica center is planned to close at the end of February due to midyear cuts to the Department of Mental Health and Hygiene and will leave many of the 98 seniors currently enrolled with nowhere to go.
“I understand the city cutting a budget, but our budget isn’t being cut we’re being ‘wiped out,’” said Carol Hunt, the executive director of the Jamaica Service Program for Older Adults which operates the center.
Councilmember Ruben Wills, whose own grandmother had attended the center and state Senator Malcolm Smith, who led the crowd in the “No cuts” chant, were both on hand and spoke of the importance this center, the only of its kind in southeast Queens.
Christine Johnson whose 82 year-old mother has “come alive” in the months since she first attended the center on a doctor’s recommendation for her dementia.
“It’s been a dream come true.”
Come March the dream may be over for these seniors.