The Urban West Senior Citizen’s Center opened at 5370 Pershing on October 16. The Center, sponsored by the Urban League of St. Louis, is open to citizens 55 and over and retired, or of any age if disabled. Those living between Skinker and Kingshighway, Delmar and Forest Park are particularly invited to use the facilities, which will be open weekdays from 10 A.M. to 5:30 P.M.
The first business will be to furnish the Center, and members will be asked to help in that job. Then there will be classes in crafts, needlework, pottery, sewing and weaving, with finished products sold in local shops and at the Center. Films, field trips, parties and a small library are also planned.
Mrs. Pauline Border, Director of the Center, said “I hope that we will soon establish a community of senior citizens here which will involve itself in the larger community of the West End.”
It is hoped that Center members will visit those senior citizens unable to leave home. A Telephone Pal system will call shut-ins daily to provide companionship and make sure the shut-ins are all right. The Center will also develop a self-protection kit for distribution to the elderly.
The Urban League of St. Louis will provide employment, counseling and job placement services on Thursdays and Fridays between 10 A.M. and 12:30 P.M. Mrs. Zenobia Jett, an Urban League Community Organization worker, will devote one day a week to the center, putting its members in contact with local churches and other neighborhood facilities.
“Anyone is welcome in the Center. “The only difference between a member (who pays minimal dues) and a non-member, is that our weekly Bingo games will be limited to members,” says Mrs. Border.
Originally published in The Paper, October–November 1972.
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Original source: SD_Times1972_10.pdf, printed page 3.
