Project FIND: Ready for a Reopening

As New York reaches a milestone with 70% of adults vaccinated, Project FIND’s West 73rd Street location is one of the city’s 250 senior centers that are preparing to reopen for indoor activities and dining.

Project FIND provides meals, housing, and crucial resources to low-income and homeless seniors, housing 600 seniors and caring for over 3,000 members. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, their four locations served about 750 seniors a day.

In early June, some of the program’s centers began distributing daily grab-and-go meals, allowing their residents and members of the community alike to pick up a free, fresh meal and socialize, for the first time in over a year.

Last Tuesday afternoon, seniors gathered outside the Hamilton House building on West 73rd Street, eating their meals and chatting. Many spoke of their excitement around the prospect of indoor activities at the center, which are expected to resume in early July.

Among them was Jo Marchese, 96, who says that to her, the center is more than a place to pick up meals or attend classes. Marchese, who has lived at Hamilton House for 19 years, said that the center enables her to build community and make friends. “Being able to connect with people and have their company has been the most important thing for me,” she says.

Project FIND has faced a unique challenge in helping members like Marchese stay safe and healthy during the pandemic. While seniors are already vulnerable due to age, pre-existing health conditions, and isolation-related stressors, the struggles of low-income and homeless seniors were exacerbated by the pandemic.

Even as the city stood still at the height of the pandemic, Project FIND’s staff remained busy conducting wellness checks, coordinating food deliveries, offering virtual programs, and helping seniors get tested and vaccinated for COVID-19.

“We had all hands on deck, trying to meet people where they needed support the most,” says Porsha Hall, Project FIND’s Director of Community Services. When vaccines were first made available, Hall says that the program’s social workers would wake up at 1 a.m. to access the online portal and schedule appointments. Calls were made to the community, a pop-up vaccination clinic was held in March, and by June, over 200 seniors were vaccinated with Project FIND’s help.

While many seniors are eager to return to in-person classes such as horticulture, zumba, and art, David Gillcrist, Project FIND’s Executive Director, says they want to accommodate those who don’t yet feel comfortable returning to the center in-person.

To do so, the centers will continue to provide virtual activities and resources, but Gillcrist hopes that the city will soon reach a point where the seniors can mingle with less anxiety.

“My biggest hope is to get back to a psychology that’s not clouded by the presence of coronavirus,” he says. “The ultimate goal is to be able to focus on programming and prioritizing well-being, not public health.”