Eastlake Senior Center marks 50th anniversary
Oct. 7—The Eastlake Senior Center has come a long way since its beginnings in 1973.
Located at 600 E. 349th St., the center recently celebrated its 50th anniversary.
"We have become family here," said Senior Center Director Grace Giangiacomo, noting that the center now has more than 750 members, some of which are coming from as far as Ashtabula, Richmond Heights and Aurora.
Last month the Chagrin Salmon Association sponsored a 50th anniversary celebration at the center, which allowed for seniors to relax and have fun, Giangiacomo said.
More than 200 people attended the event.
"In the past, we've always had the Chagrin Salmon Association give us a fish fry," Giangiacomo said. "With the price of everything, it was getting kind of hard to do fish fries, but they still wanted to donate their time and be involved.
"They cooked for us — we had hamburgers, hot dogs, french fries, macaroni and cheese, coleslaw and cupcakes," she added. "I want to do something like this again next year, so we'll have to think of an excuse to have a party."
According to Giangiacomo, although the seniors did not have a brick-and-mortar location in 1973, they would not only use a bus from the city's Recreation Department to get around but host parties in the building the center is currently in.
"It was a community center," she said. "It's pretty strange that that's what they did when they first started. I believe in 1975, they started at the Nike Site (Nike Missile Site CL-13 in Willowick). They were there until 1994 and they went to Taft Elementary School.
"I was told the seniors helped put it back together, painted and put carpeting down, so that became their home until they took the building down in 2020."
The center then moved to its current location at the beginning of 2021 and officially opened in September that year as it took eight months to build.
"We still have seniors who went to the second location that opened in '94 who are coming here," Giangiacomo said. "We have grown considerably and since Kerri (Davidson) came on board, we have grown because a lot of her seniors from where she used to come have joined us."
Davidson, the assistant director, started last January, which was a blessing she said she didn't know she needed at the time.
"Grace called me in December and I came running," Davidson said. "There's a lot of wonderful, nice, friendly people. It's rewarding to be able to enrich their lives as they get older. It's been a lot of fun going on trips with them — kind of like a bonus for me as well because I get to do fun things."
Since partnering with Laketran, the trips the senior center offers have grown by leaps and bounds, Giangiacomo said. The center takes part in roughly 12 trips per month to keep the seniors involved.
"It's great for them to come here, park their car, pay $5, get on a bus and go different places," she said. "They don't have to worry about driving a long distance."
Among the trips the seniors have gone on include to Rivers Casino, an Amish country trip and Put-in-Bay.
"Kerri thinks of a lot of things," Giangiacomo said. "One of her trips she decided to go on was to look at the Cleveland signs. It was the best thing."
The center is funded by Eastlake and the Lake County Senior Citizen's Services Levy.
For inquires, call 440-975-4268.
