NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A North Nashville senior center that has served generations of residents is getting a $300,000 makeover aimed at giving older adults a better place to gather, eat and stay active.
WATCH: $300K renovation underway at North Nashville’s Elizabeth Senior Center
Renovations are underway at Metro Parks’ Elizabeth Senior Center after the Nashville Parks Foundation received a $300,000 grant through Lowe’s Community Impact program.
The center has been in the heart of North Nashville since the early 1980s, providing older adults with recreation, meals, social connections and access to community resources.
“It’s a beautiful building from the outside, but over the years buildings and facilities age and we don’t always have those resources at Parks and Recreation,” Metro Parks Director Monique Horton Odom said.
The renovation includes new flooring, paint and ceiling tiles, along with updated restrooms, a fully renovated kitchen and a new shared computer lab.
For seniors who regularly use the center, the building provides more than just a place for activities.
Betty White attends the Elizabeth Senior Center and said seniors can travel, play cards, quilt and line dance through activities offered there.
Those activities, she said, help seniors stay mentally and physically active.
“To keep you going and live to be 80 and 90 and so on,” White said.
White has a particularly long connection to the center. She retired from the Elizabeth Senior Center in 2013 after spending more than 40 years working with Metro Parks and Recreation.
“This building is needed here, and it’s still here,” White said.
For White, improving the building is also about making sure it remains available for the people who will use it after her generation.
“Those generations coming in, we’re here to accommodate,” she said.
Horton Odom said the seniors who use the facility “deserve a really great space.”
The Elizabeth Senior Center is the only Metro Parks facility designated exclusively for seniors.
Renovations are expected to be completed in early December.
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