The Cape Henlopen Senior Center announces its new building is on the way with the help of $1 million in federal funding.
The 35,000 square foot, two story facility will replace the current Cape Henlopen Senior Center near Rehoboth’s public library. Board members say that location faces issues with parking and indoor activity space.
Cape Henlopen Senior Center Board President Gregory Murphy says in addition to solving those problems, the new space is also designed with senior citizens in mind.
“They will use universal design to fit the building so that everybody will be able to use the building. Universal design means that there will be levers instead of doorknobs for people who have grip problems, there will be wheelchair ramps, there will be everything so that everybody can access the whole place.” he told DPM.
Although the old location has been provided to them by the city for $1 a year, board leaders plan to move by 2030 to allow Rehoboth to develop that building.
Murphy says with more space, they can also do more with their members.
"All of those things that help people avoid isolation and loneliness, and that help people avoid the pitfall for many seniors of not having good enough nutrition. Those are things that we want to
take on and all of it centered on helping people age in place and live in their homes happily until they have to make another arrangement." he said.
And, isolation and loneliness are both risk factors that studies show increase the likelihood for health challenges in senior citizens.
The new facility will have more room for cards, pool tables, chair and line dances, and a myriad of other activities the current space can only host once a month- board leadership says that frequency will increase to multiple times a week in the new location.
Helping complete this project is $1 million of congressionally directed funding secured by Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester, which Murphy says took a few years to acquire, adding that many grant funds being cancelled last year may have lengthened the application process.
Blunt Rochester noted that the delays in the process only made an already lengthy process worse.
"These take at least a year- it all depends on when the budget is approved. People will go through the process of applying to our office when the portal opens up, and it can takes several months before we actually get through the budget process" she told DPM.
Murphy notes that while Rehoboth City Council says 2030 isn’t a hard deadline, they believe the new building will be completed before then.
