Tri-Lakes Senior Center in Monument relocates to more modern digs
Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette
MONUMENT — Tri-Lakes Senior Center isn’t the place to pull up an old chair and rock back and forth.
It’s a place to two-step and shimmy, to build muscle strength or play cards, to eat lunch and meet new people, according to volunteer extraordinaire Sandi Watson-Staggs.
“It’s all about the people and the things we offer people to do,” she said.
And as of Monday, people who frequent the Silver Key Senior Services Center in El Paso County’s northernmost region have a more modern location to do all that and more.
Forced out of its previous home base at the Grace Best Education Center in Monument, which likely is headed for demolition, the senior center has landed at Monument Community Presbyterian Church at 38 3rd St. in Monument.
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“It’s really gelled,” said Silver Key President and CEO Jason DeaBueno. “The church was underutilized Monday through Friday — the real work they have is over the weekend — so the scheduling worked out well.”
The senior center is open 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Friday, to older adults in the Tri-Lakes area of Monument, Palmer Lake and Woodmoor, with programs, resources and community-building.
Erin Eleuterio teaches a “Strength, Stamina and Stability” fitness class at a new location for the Tri-Lakes Senior Center on Monday. Revenue from the Silver Key Thrift Store in nearby Palmer Lake, funds offerings at the activity center. The new center is located at Monument Community Presbyterian Church at 38 3rd St. in Monument.
The site has its own entrance on the east side of the historic church building whose chapel opened in 1874. It’s about a block and a half away from where the senior center had been for nearly three years.
Silver Key Senior Services merged with Tri-Lakes Silver Alliance in June 2022 and moved the office in November of that year to the Grace Best Education Center, which is owned by Lewis-Palmer School District 38.
The 1957 school building is in bad shape, though, and tenants were told in January that they needed to vacate due to international fire code violations.
The new local hub for older adults offers a lunch service, an activity center that provides four to eight events a day, transportation to medical appointments and shopping, a home modification program and case management for assistance with housing, safety, applications and other aspects of aging.
At Monday’s opening, Carol Morgan was stationed in her usual volunteer job as door greeter. She said she likes how the property is more open and airy.
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“There have been a lot more members, and I think we’ll probably get more here,” she said while multi-tasking with a second volunteer project. Morgan crochets lap blankets for home-bound or sick people, as well as new moms for a program of another local church, St. Peter Catholic Church.
Mary Santiago was also crocheting while she was waiting for the “Strength, Stamina and Stability” fitness class to begin and watching her husband teach another center user how to play chess.
“This is a good space; it’s better than the Grace Best, which was kind of old and rundown,” she said. “This is a lot brighter.”
Silver Key’s Connections Café serves hot lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Staff and volunteers prepare the meals at Silver Key’s headquarters in Colorado Springs and deliver them to various sites across El Paso and Teller counties.
Seniors also can sign up to get a ride in a Silver Key vehicle to appointments or outings such as grocery stores. Rides can be scheduled by calling (719) 884-2300.
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The home modification program provides basic changes to make living at home easier for seniors to stay independent.
And the large activity area inside the church is like a chameleon, changing from a multi-purpose room for congregants on weekends to a bustling center on weekdays that hosts dancing, exercise and hobbies and crafts classes, along with educational workshops.
Revenue from the Silver Key Thrift Store in nearby Palmer Lake funds the activity center’s programs, DeaBueno said.
Members of the Tri-Lakes Senior Center, who can join for free and use most of the programs at no cost, are a close-knit group, said Adrienne Timmons, director of health, strategy and integration for Silver Key.
“I’m really excited about the collaboration with the church and the community,” she said. “There are a lot of opportunities for really great energy amongst our members, the church and the community. This will naturally draw more people to the center — it feels like a good place adults are going to enjoy being together.”
The Tri-Lakes Senior Center has about 300 people on its email list and counts 750 to 900 “visits” to the center per month, which Timmons said does not equate to the number of center users.
For more information, go to https://www.silverkey.org/trilakes.
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Contact the writer: 719-476-1656.
