Support for Swampscott Senior Center lacking, local advocates argue
Swampscott town administrator: It s been a complicated year
Leigh Blander and William J. Dowd
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Supporters of the Swampscott Senior Center are asking the town to hire a director and additional staff as soon as possible, as the center scrambles to serve thousands of area seniors during the pandemic.
“There’s a real lack of support from the town,” said Deb Bogardus with Friends of the Swampscott Senior Center.
According to the group, the senior center serves more than 5,000 seniors every year for meals, fitness classes, activities, and, above all, socialization. Longtime director Marilyn Hurwitz retired in early September, and nearly eight months later, the town has yet to replace her. Outreach Coordinator Gina Bush is the center’s only full-time employee.
LETTER: Let us acknowledge and support Swampscott Senior Center staff
Wicked Local
When the Senior Center closed its doors in March 2020 due to the Coronavirus, 5,200 seniors suddenly had no place to go. That’s 200 men and women from Swampscott and surrounding communities who regularly take part in Center activities every day, 5 days a week, each year. This is where they come to exercise, to learn how to play bridge or mahjong, to meet friends for a game of cribbage or bocce ball, to socialize with fellow knitters, to paint or write, see a movie, go on a day trip or take the van to a doctor’s appointment. They come to socialize over lunch or a scrabble board or a jigsaw puzzle. What’s more important for seniors than the opportunity to stay physically active and to socialize with friends?
Swampscott news in brief for the week of Monday, March 15
Wicked Local
The Swampscott Reporter s news in brief, published online every Monday, is a compilation of need-to-know, general and short news items from various sources around town. Swampscott community members and organizations can email 150 to 200-word news items for inclusion in the weekly list to wdowd@gannett.com with news in brief in the subject line.
Holiday closures
On Monday, May 31, Swampscott municipal offices are closed in observance of Memorial Day.
Census forms
Swampscott residents will receive or already have received the 2021 annual town census form in the mail soon.
Swampscott news in brief for the week of March 1, 2021
Town offices closed
Papers to run in 2021Swampscott election now available
For the spring 2021 municipal election, Swampscott residents can pull nomination papers to run for town-officer positions and Town Meeting seats.
Eight town-officer positions and at least 108 Town Meeting seats are up for grabs in the Tuesday, April 27 municipal election.
Due to the COVID pandemic, Swampscott Town Hall, 22 Monument Ave., is operating by appointment-only until further notice. Residents must make arrangements with Swampscott Town Clerk Susan Duplin s office either by calling 781.596.4167 or by emailing sduplin@swampscottma.gov to pick up nomination papers
INA’S INSIGHTS: Swampscott’s outstanding residents: Angela Warren Ippolito
Ina Michele Resnikoff
A decade ago, Angela Warren Ippolito built an extension on her Swampscott home with her husband, Joe, to bring her now 90-year-old mother to live with them. Like everything else that Ippolito has done, this decision has added to her joy in life.
Ippolito is an unusually positive person, able to see the many sides of things; this has enabled her to be successful in the worlds of fine arts and marketing as well as an unstinting Swampscott volunteer for 20 years.
Currently, Ippolito is in her third five-year term on the Swampscott Planning Board, which she also leads as the five-member board’s chairperson. She appreciates the diversity and diligence of her colleagues.