A senior center that operates in the basement of a Manhattan church is being told to find a new home. NY1′s Lori Chung filed the following report.
At 94, Josephine deCicco fears the senior center that she relies on will be forced out of Our Lady of Pompeii Church.
“I was baptized here, I was confirmed here, and this is my parish all my life,” deCicco said.
“You come down here, you feel like you’re living again. You have games. You have everything going on,” she added. “If they ever close this, it breaks my heart.”
Greenwich House rents the basement of the church for $ 2,000 a month, but Executive Director Roy Leavitt said when he sat down with the pastor last week to negotiate a new agreement, he was told, “The best solution would be for Greenwich House to find a new location.”
Leavitt said the lease expires next June, but so far, he hasn’t been able to get church leaders back to the bargaining table.
“We do understand that they have certain financial concerns, and we’re willing to sit down and negotiate with them, but at this point, they haven’t come to us with any idea what that rent, that new rent, would be,” Leavitt said.
Center advocates said the church is looking to rent the space to film and television production companies. NY1 spoke off camera with the pastor, who declined to comment at all on the situation.
Supporters of the center said it provides seniors with a sense of independence and deserves to be saved.
“They should come to the table and meet with our senior citizens and understand how important this resource is to our community,” said state Senator Brad Holyman of Manhattan.
With the current lease running out, seniors like deCicco are praying something can be worked out.
“I love it. It keeps me going,” deCicco said. “I love it here, and I hate to see it be destroyed.”
The center has provided meals and activities to the elderly since 1973.
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