On Tuesday evening, residents met with Millcreek Township Supervisors to voice their concerns and disapproval over the possible closure of the Just Older Youth Center.
The facility opened back in September, but Millcreek Supervisors are already ending their contract with MECA, which is the agency that runs the center."The amount of people that are really interested in going to the J.O.Y. Senior Center, there isn't a lot of interest in it," said Millcreek Supervisor John Groh. "They may not want to hear that, but it's a fact."
The township originally had a four year lease agreement for the building, which Groh says costs $187,000 a year to operate. According to Groh, only 218 residents--or 1.3 percent of the Millcreek senior population--actually use the facility.J.O.Y. Senior Center members disagree.
"There's so many people that are depending on this center for a place to go," said Pam Weber. "It would be such a crime to have this taken away from them."There's now a petition drive to keep the senior center open. The group has already collected 1,000 signatures.
"Everybody I spoke to, and I got over 200 signatures names myself on this petition, and they are in an uproar." said Dee Hertle.