The first sign is the colorfully painted birdhouses that hang outside the front door of PSS King Towers Center. Then it hits you the moment you step inside. This isn’t just a place to go. It is a home. It smells clean. There’s warmth and an energy in the air that is palpable.
A dozen older adults, along with 92-year-old Mama Rose in her assigned seat at the head of the first table, have just finished lunch. Mama Rose shows up every day. She and Mr. Jacob love to dance and are usually the first to get up when the music starts playing.
The main room is a warm, freshly painted shade of mango. It is the last room to be refreshed in a nearly two-year effort, propelled by Willa Blank, the volunteer “angel” at King Towers. She conceived of the repainting project when the center was first closed due to COVID.
Over the months, Willa brought in supplies and painters from her broad network in the creative community to help paint each of the 8 rooms. She has collected furniture and art donations and she is now a fixture at the Harlem center. The members honored her in December.
At the helm of the center, which occupies a ground level space at the Martin Luther King Jr. Towers is KaTrina Dinham (catch that KT). She stepped up to run it in 2019, exactly one year before the pandemic hit in March 2020. A former elementary school teacher, KaTrina came to work with PSS in 2016 as a volunteer coordinator. She proudly sports the royal purple King Towers hoodie with the slogan “We’re Not Senior Citizens, We’re SEASONED Citizens!”
On her team is assistant Roslind Flake, who has King Towers in her blood. She was born and raised there. Keeping things clean is the custodian, Gregory Holt — and then there is the always energetic, 86-year-old Douglas “Joe” Adams, who they call the fourth member of their staff.
“I love King Towers,” KaTrina says. ”I especially love my members of the center. Anything they need from me I am always more than willing, ready, able, and available to assist them. I truly feel like this is my purpose to be here with them and to be here for them. It’s probably the first time in my life that I really, truly love my job.”
That love is evident in the details. In the ladies’ room there is a floral bouquet. Member photos adorn the bulletin boards and are already going up on the freshly painted walls, along with the artwork they are creating. Holiday decorations remain in place, even though it is the third week of January (KaTrina loves Christmas.)
In the exercise room, where KaTrina has wrangled the donation of an elliptical machine, exercise bike and a professional physician’s scale, four members gather to play dominoes.
Since the pandemic, when the center reopened at 25% capacity, people have wanted to be together and tend to migrate to the big room.
“Togetherness is what everyone’s going for,”KaTrina says. “It’s like having an 8-bedoom house and everyone’s always in the living room.” She is still grieving the loss of Gail Smalls, who passed on Jan. 2 after a very brief, yet brave battle with cancer. While KaTrina considers all the members to be her “adopted grandparents,” she was especially drawn to Smalls, who most reminded her of her own grandmother, who she is lucky to still have with her.
Some special things about King Towers:
- Three mornings a week at 10AM, the walking club hits the boulevard and heads for Central Park North, where they take a brisk walk around the reservoir.
- The “Literary Lounge” allows members to take a reading break or take out a book. In addition to members and community residents, many of the books were donated by KaTrina, an avid reader who has never thrown away a book in her life. Every genre is represented.
- KaTrina conducts live “cook alongs” when nutritionists offer online trainings. It makes things more interesting, and the members get to taste the recipe
What’s coming:
- Look for an Etsy store, where member artwork will go on sale.
Visit the PSS King Towers Facebook page to stay connected with this lively center.
Check the PSS Careers page if you’d like to work with us! Visit PSS Volunteer Opportunities to pitch in!