The Nantucket Center for Elder Affairs (NCEA.) was established in October 28, 1975 for the purpose of raising funds to support the senior community of Nantucket. It worked closely with the Counsel on Aging (a state funded agency) in such activities as Meals on Wheels and other activities needed by seniors. The NCEA mission is “to enhance the lives of the seniors of Nantucket and to act as an advocate for all issues effecting our senior community.”
In 1980 the estate of Dorothy M. Souza, wife of Anton Souza, Sr, donated her Union Street property “Saltmarsh” to the NCEA where it served as headquarters for the COA and Elder Services of Cape Cod and the Islands. The building was far too small to serve the growing needs of the senior community. A search began for a new location for the Saltmarsh Center funded by selling the Souza property. The Washington Street Extension property was offered and leased to the NCEA on a 99 year lease after an article for that purpose passed at a Special Town Meeting in 1984. The Saltmarsh Center building we currently use was constructed and formally opened October 13, 1985.
Whereas the town owns the land, the building is the responsibility of the NCEA. The NCEA has an agreement for the town to run the senior programs during normal business hours. The NCEA runs after hours programs and supports the regular activities as necessary.
The Nantucket community has a significant senior population. According to the 2020 Census there are 2,452 year round residents over the age of 65 and close to 4,000 over 55. NCEA’s role is to create stimulating activities for our senior community over and above those offered by the town and to augment resources for the town sponsored activities when the town is unable to provide them. Additionally, NCEA acts as a voice for the senior community and an advocate for all seniors on the island.
There are three areas where the NCEA has funding needs:
The NCEA owns the building housing the Saltmarsh Senior Center. As such, it is responsible for the maintenance of the building.
• Earlier last year we replaced the roof after a storm where there was significant damage. This expense was unanticipated and funds were taken out of our reserves and totaled $35,000.
• Our current plans are to replace and reconfigure the north entrance to the center to eliminate a dangerous entrance from entry to the parking area and to enlarge the external entrance deck to better facilitate wheelchair access. This will cost approximately $20,000.
• Additionally, we need to repair rot on external trim and repaint. (Estimated cost - $25,000)
• The automatic doors to the Men’s and Women’s rooms need to be reinstalled to work properly and to eliminate the possibility of someone hitting their head on the mechanism.
• One of our activities is to show classic movies each week. We need a better way to show these films. We need to replace our antiquated projection system with a modern super large OLED smart TV (est. $4,000-6,000) with hearing enhancement. This system can be used for a variety activities including exercise class, yoga and our movie nights.
• Venetian blinds for the great room ($2,000).
• Chairs. The current chairs are 30 years old and are well past their useful life. 50 chairs at $125 = $6,250
• Computers for our small computer lab - 2@ $1,300 each = $2,600.
2023 was a banner year for the NCEA in its mission to expand the breadth of activities that we currently have offered to our seniors. We sponsored numerous activities that have benefited the entire senior community. These have included regular themed dinners, music concerts with local musicians, nature walks, photography clinics, sailing with Community sailing, various lectures and even a trip to Hyannis for a Cape Cod Symphony concert. We have plans to have programs like these throughout the year as a means to attract new members to the center.
• Indoor gardening with the Garden Club
• Armchair Theater
• Tarot reading
• NCTV oral history collaboration
• Mentoring program collaborating with the Boys and Girls Club and Big
Brothers and Big Sisters of Cape Cod
• Outreach to the international communities. Our first event with be
focused on the Latino community
• Off Island trips:
◦ The Cape Cod Symphony
◦ The Boston Flower Show
◦ Theater trip to Boston
◦ Whaling Museum trip to New Bedford
◦ History trek to Plymouth
◦ Art shows in Boston or Providence
◦ Cape Cod League Baseball
◦ Fenway Park
We expect that these activities will be the key to attracting younger (<70 years old) seniors to our fold. Additionally, we hope to sponsor pickleball, platform tennis and golf events to boost. our attractiveness to this group.
Making this all happen requires a concerted marketing and social media presence. We have hired an outside consultant to assist us with this. As you can imagine, all of this requires us to raise funds to support these efforts.