Renovations to the kitchen, meeting spaces, the gym and several other areas, as well as efficiency-minded replacements of fixtures and appliances have been completed over the last four years, officials said.

“Like most of the buildings that the township owns, they’re cherished heritage buildings,” said Chris Adams, a trustee of the Forsyth Township Board. “And so in recent years, we’ve been busy at upgrading them.”

The building has had a rich history and many purposes over the years, Forsyth Senior Center Director Brian Veale said, noting that “at one point in time, this was the hub of the community.”

The building has, at various times over the decades, hosted dances and events, acted as an overflow space for local schools, and housed various recreational activities and services for the community, Adams said.

Forsyth Senior Center Director Brian Veale stands in the newly-renovated kitchen of the Forsyth Township Clubhouse. The clubhouse contains the senior center and multiple other services and activities for community, and has undergone many recent renovations to its kitchen and gym, as well as office and meeting spaces. (Journal photos by Cecilia Brown)

“(It has served) many people over the years and it’s changed functions over the years,” Veale said. “At one point in time, it had a community swimming pool, it had a community bowling alley — the bowling alley now is the Buckskin Bowman Archery Range, the swimming pool is now the area where the Girl Scouts, AA and exercise groups meet where they have some privacy, so that’s kind of neat too — it’s done a lot of changing over the years.”

Now, the building hosts the senior center and many of its activities, including a kitchen that prepares congregate and delivered meals, a meeting space for the Forsyth Township Board, a gym, a youth room, a garden, and a greenhouse.

As the center has evolved in use over the past decades, many updates have been made to make the space more amenable to the activities and services provided in the space today, as well as changes to make the building more accessible and energy efficient, Veale and Adams said.

A number of the recent improvements are largely thanks to a 50/50 funding collaboration between the clubhouse and the township board, they said.

The clubhouse’s kitchen, which houses a satellite meal preparation site for AMCAB’s Meals on Wheels Program where a cook and volunteers prepare up to 80 meals a day, has been one of the major projects, they said.

“The last couple years we’ve purchased a new stove, put new flooring in, repainted it, put a couple new freezers in, so that’s really changed a lot,” Veale said.

This work is thanks to a partnership amongst AMCAB, Forsyth Township, and the Forsyth Township Senior Center, they said.

“That’s another good example about cooperation, we’re able to do a great deal more through what they call synergy and cooperation between different agencies and the people involved,” Adams said.

Furthermore, Adams and Veale want local seniors to know that they can come to the clubhouse Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays to enjoy a hot meal prepared by the kitchen in the company of other local seniors for $3.50, they said, noting that they are also looking for several volunteers to help with meal preparation and packaging.

The clubhouse’s gym, which formerly was the home of the Gwinn Modeltowners, has also undergone improvements in recent years.

The gym, which regularly houses activities such as Tae Kwon Do, now features new lighting murals that celebrate the history of the Gwinn Modeltowners painted by Veale and Gwinn-area students.

Another recent change in the building was replacing light bulbs with LED models, which provides “more attractive lighting in addition to being energy efficient,” Adams said.

“The township board appropriates money every year to upgrade facilities, this year they allocated funds to put LED lighting throughout our major buildings,” Adams said. “Because number one, you almost never change the LEDs, and secondly, you use about half as much wattage as what we had in the original lights. So we expect — even though we’ve added some lights –that probably all of these lights will pay for themselves in between three and four years and even save money, but immediately, we’ve stopped using so much electricity.”

Meeting rooms on the first floor and in the basement have also received renovations, they said. The renovation of the space in the basement that houses exercise classes and meetings was completed in the last month, with walls freshly painted and new carpet laid, Adams and Veale said.

Flooring has also been replaced the office that houses social workers in the building, staircases have been rebuilt and multiple other spaces have been renovated, they said.

In October, the youth room on the upper level of the center was re-opened, offering an after-school gathering spot for kids from 3:30 p.m. until 9 p.m., they said. Local youth can play games, work on homework, do crafts or just enjoy each other’s company in the room, which provides a valuable service for local youth, Adams and Veale said.

Also in the last four years, community gardens and a greenhouse were constructed, giving local seniors and youth alike a valuable chance to connect with one another while beautifying the area, Veale said.

Overall, Veale and Adams said they look forward to continuing to make improvements at the clubhouse so it can better serve the community and new generations of youth and seniors alike.

“It’s really cool to see all of the changes and see how many people come in — but what we’re really trying to do now is revitalize the whole place, so that some of our younger seniors who start coming in here know that it is their place also,” Veale said, adding that they are also putting their “ears to the ground” to figure out what younger seniors might be looking for and what they can make the building do for them.

For more information about the Forsyth Senior Center and its programming, call 906-346-4818.