Dedicated volunteers

FITCHBURG — A multitude of people gathered at the senior center on Oct. 24 for the annual volunteer recognition event.

Local Eagles cover band “The Long Run” provided live music while attendees enjoyed a catered lunch. Fitchburg Senior Center Director Amanda Koeck welcomed everyone to the celebration and said it was her first volunteer appreciation luncheon.

“I’m living and learning as I go, and I hope to improve as we have more of these in the future,” she said.

She noted that she, along with the hard-working office and maintenance staff, “do a lot here at the senior center … but we couldn’t do what we do without the help of our volunteers.” She also acknowledged the efforts of the Council on Aging and thanked everyone “for everything you do for us.”

Koeck talked about how the “senior center runs itself,” meaning that the group of dedicated volunteers handles things like serving lunch and cleaning up so she can focus on administrative tasks and other tasks that keep her busy. .

“I work hard, but I couldn’t do what I do without our volunteers,” she said.

She called cribbage “the backbone of our senior center” and talked about the variety of other popular activities the senior center offers, such as bingo, and how Hannaford donates food twice a week, food on that seniors can take home – programs that are all volunteer run.

She read the names of five people who have volunteered at the senior center for 10 years or more and asked them to sit — Linda Bourque, Annie DeMartino, Patrick Goodhue and Roland Winter — before acknowledging one volunteer in particular “who really stepped up. to the plate’ and along with many others, he ‘kept the doors open’.

“I’m not sure what shape we’d be in,” Koeck revealed as Rose D’Alessio stood and waved to applause.

Speaking with the longtime resident who started volunteering at the senior center two years ago, D’Alessio has a very warm and lively energy about her. She started helping in the kitchen as a way to get out of the house and socialize after losing her husband during the pandemic, going so far as to call the senior center her “lifeline.”

“She’s someone who stepped into a leadership role when there was no one to really guide her,” Koeck said of D’Alessio following the event. “He kept the kitchen together, and in doing that, he kept the senior center together.”

D’Alessio is at the senior center three times a week piloting the kitchen crew that serves the home-cooked meals made by Monty Tech students that are delivered to the center. She said they usually get about 20 people coming for lunch on Mondays and Fridays, but always more on Wednesdays because it’s bingo, “a big day.”

When asked what she likes about her time at the senior center, she said she recruited a lot of friends to help out as well, a win-win because she then gets to see them regularly.

“It keeps me busy. I like to be busy and I like to help people,” disclosed D’Alessio.

Anne Fitch sat at one of the tables next to her husband, Elliot. Although she is “relatively new” to the Council on Aging, Fitch has been coming to the senior center for pickleball and yoga for a while.

“I have friends on the board and I thought I value this place,” Fitch said when asked what inspired her to join the board as a volunteer. “I’m getting my new legs and meeting all the nice people.”

She was born and raised in the city and lived there most of her life, except for brief periods elsewhere. In addition to his long career in retail, her husband of 59 years taught at Fitchburg High School, so they both have strong ties to the city.

Fitch talked about living downtown for many years and walking around the area with her children when they were young. She used to teach aerobics at the YMCA and said she did a modified class for seniors, so she first connected with that demographic she now belongs to.

“I love Fitchburg and I’m proud of it,” Fitch said of her hometown. “It’s changing, but that’s good.”