Friends of Senior Services donate new bus to Sandel Center

“Don’t be shy,” said Berton Miller, president of the Friends of Senior Services board of directors, as he waved over other members of the board to come stand beside him during a village board meeting on March 6. They had an announcement to make.

“On this evening, it is our pleasure to present the keys to a brand new high tech handicap access van to the Village of Rockville Centre,” he said to applause from the dozens of Sandel Senior Center members who came to sit in on the meeting. The center forms the core of the village’s Department of Senior Services.

Paid through grants, as well as contributions from FOSSI, the van can transport up to 22 people, and has a mechanical access ramp, making it wheelchair accessible and easier for members who might struggle walking up stairs. The new vehicle brings the center’s number of buses to three. They help transport members to the center who no longer can or wish to drive there themselves.

The van is the latest of the many contributions FOSSI has made to the center over the years. Most recently, it helped fund the installation of motorized doors, new bathrooms and a heat curtain for the center’s entrance.

After the keys to the van were handed over to Mayor Francis X. Murray in a symbolic gesture, FOSSI board and Sandel member Harold Buck thanked the rest of the board for its gift. “Believe me,” he said. “It is already helping myself and many other members at the Sandel Center who use it… so thank you from all the people at the Sandel Center.”