Kelly O’Brien, Centretown News
Volunteers Joan West, 90, and Stan Harris, 78, (both standing) have been volunteers at the Good Companions Seniors’ Centre for several decades.Stan Harris, 78, remembers the floor plan of the original Good Companions Seniors’ Centre, a place he helped build 58 years ago.
Founded in 1955, the centre aimed to create a space where seniors could meet, share interests, and develop independence. A project of the Ottawa Kinsmen Club, the Albert Street building was first constructed in 1957.
Harris has been volunteering at the centre since its inception.
“I’m a volunteer driver. I think I have an invested interest because I’ve been there since the beginning,” he says.
Harris says the centre began as a one-storey edifice totalling 6,000 square feet. Today, it is four storeys and has expanded six times its original size, measuring 36,000 square feet.
Since 1955, the Good Companions have grown from 40 members to 1,000 and from three staff to over 25, according to the centre’s website.
Joan West, 90, has been a centre volunteer for 46 years. She volunteers in the adult day program, which provides therapeutic, social and recreational service “When I started at the Good Companions, it was really not much bigger than a small house.”
West said there were no Para Transpo services in her early days of volunteering. She says volunteers would pick up seniors from their homes and drive them to the centre.
“They would stay all day and then take them home at night. It was quite a long day,” West says.
The average age of a Good Companions member is 75, according to its website. West says the population of seniors is growing, meaning the number of isolated seniors is increasing, too.
Ken Evraire, the Good Companions interim executive director, says the centre is facing a need to serve clients who are unable to access the centre.
“These are isolated seniors or seniors who aren’t as mobile. Empowering those seniors who continue to live at home is part of our mandate,” Evraire says.
Evraire says the organization offers accessible transportation to those seniors who can’t make it to the centre, including buses to to the grocery store or to appointments.
The centre also offers “Seniors’ Centre Without Walls,” a teleconference project for seniors and adults with disabilities.
“They can call in and connect and talk about everything under the sun,” Evraire says. “They can talk, do recreational activities, and listen to celebrities read books.”
Although the centre is expanding its transportation programs, Evraire said there are still needs that are not being met.
“We know we’re far more successful than we’ve been in the past, but the challenge continues to grow at a quicker pace,” he says.West says she couldn’t pick just one favourite memory from her years of volunteering.
“One thing that I promised myself 46 years ago is that I would always learn the name of a new member,” she says.
“Next time they came in I would call them by name and it would make them feel special, because they are special.”
The Good Companions held a Diamond Jubilee gala Oct. 23 in honour of the anniversary.
“We’re looking forward to another great 60 years,” Evraire says.
“People, when they get old, don’t have to sit at home and think about all the things that are sour about the world. You can get out and do something,” West said.