Rotary Club Rescues Valentine's Day for Seniors

Above, the Rotary Club “kitchen crew”: Back row, Joe Collins and Dan Gentile. Middle row, Gary Convertino and Dr. Bill Koplin. Front Row, Judy Alfred, Victoria Rawlinson, and Diane Padula.

While it was an event that had been planned for a long time, the Saturday morning Valentine’s Day Brunch for seniors, sponsored by the Franklin Rotary Club, couldn’t have been more timely.

Just the day prior, the town had tweeted the news that due to damage caused by a frozen pipe in the sprinkler system on Saturday, February 4th, the Franklin Senior Center would remain closed for another week, at least from February 13th through February 17th, in order to continue restoration of the facility. As a result, the Senior Center Cafe, grab and go meal service and all other programs were to be cancelled.

But the ray of sunshine was provided on a sunny day by the Rotarians, who turned the community room at 1000 Central Park Terrace into a festive, Valentine’s Day-themed place of cheer and celebration. Aimed especially at the senior citizens who reside at the Central Park Terrace housing, Rotary also opened the event to all seniors in town – and they came. About 60 people enjoyed a “gourmet” breakfast done up by the enthusiastic volunteers.

Rotary President Rick Power, noted that the Club was “proud to do this."

“This was the first time since Covid began that we have been able to do this,” he added.