Cortland Standard .net

By AMY GERNON
Staff Reporter
agernon@cortlandstandard.net
The Cortland Community Center on Saturday hosted a welcome luncheon at its headquarters at the old Lackawanna railroad station on Central Avenue.
The luncheon, sponsored by Catholic Charities of Cortland County’s Wishing Wellness Center, drew a crowd ofabout 70.
Jaymee Bush, a human services major at SUNY Cortland who is interning this semester at the wellness center, was the primary organizer of the luncheon. Her goal was to raise awareness among members of the local community about the multitude of services provided by the community center. The space is also available for people to come in and just hang out for a while, said Bush.
Originally on Elm Street, the community center had to move out and briefly had no physical location until the New York, Susquehanna & Western Railway, owners of the old railroad station, and the city made a deal to allow to the center to operate there, starting in September 2014. It is about two blocks east of the Wishing Wellness Center.
Bush explained that the wellness center provides critically important peer-to-peer counselling services, but has become a popular scene for people to simply pass time with friends. Recent changes to the operation and hours at the wellness center meant that these regular visitors needed to find another place to gather.
“I wanted to get everyone together and explain to the community this place exists,” said Bush, who added that she wanted to get community members into the habit of coming to the community center on their own.
People can request to use the space at the community center for any number of programs, classes or activities of their own design, said Richard Stock, the president of the center. The center’s website offers a Station Schedule that displays upcoming activities.
If the space is available, anyone can request it, explained Stock, who added that the space “provides an alternative for those looking for it.”
One individual who has spearheaded a regular board game session, held from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. every Saturday, said that now more than ever, there is a real value in face-to-face interaction. Matthew Husar, who only recently became involved in the community center and is now a board member, says he would also like to begin an active chess club at the center.
For Husar and another regular community center visitor, Dave Whitson, the center offers what they call self-applied therapy.
“Helping others and serving others is a great way to help yourself,” said Husar, who is in recovery.
Kathy Fairchild is the secretary for the community center. She said it offered her a place to come when she was forced to retire due to illness.
“I wasn’t ready to retire,” she said, adding that the she looks forward to coming to the community center on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and working on a scrapbook about the center’shistory.
Carmen Vail, an attendee of the luncheon who frequents both the wellness and community centers, says the community center offers a positive place for the recovering community.
“Now that this place is open, we don’t have to go out and use, or go out and drink,” she said.
“We are lucky that Catholic Charities has taken us under their wing,” said Linda Stock, Richard’s wife and a retiree from the Department of Social Services.
The center is also supported by donations from OCM BOCES, and in turn BOCES uses the available space at the center to host BOCES programs. The center also hosts regular English as a Second Language classes, and expects to begin tae kwan do classes in the near future.
The community center, a 501(C)3 non-profit, is run entirely on donations. These donations have allowed the all-volunteer staff to create an exercise station, a music station with a piano, a reading station with a growing collection of books, and a collection of board games and art supplies.
Jim Glover, the vice president of the center and instructor of computer training courses for elderly people, is hoping to secure a donation of computers. Glover, who says that the elderly are the fastest growing segment of computer users, begins his instruction with how to turn a computer on and off. Once his pupils have advanced to sending emails and browsing the web, the six-session course shifts focus to the interests of the students.
The center, in its previous location on Elm Street, eventually could not afford the space, according to Stock, and the group found itself without a home. During that time, the city approached Stock and proposed that they use the station, which prompted Stock and the board to obtain non-profit status for the center.
While all the members of the board agree that finding the right space has been the largest challenge the center has faced, there are new hurdles. Linda Stock explained that there is a need for greater involvement among younger residents.The center is also in need of volunteers with experience in accounting and business, and writers who can assist the board in submitting grantproposals.
“We need administrators and take-charge people,” said Linda Stock, adding she hopes more young professionals will take an active part in the center’s operations.