A home away from home

The Center for Adult Life Enrichment, or CALE, as it is known today, will celebrate it 65th anniversary with a gala luncheon at the Seawane Club in Hewlett Harbor on May 7.

Founded in the Woodmere home of Harriette Wolff on Burton Avenue — it was formerly the Five Towns Senior Center, and first formed as the Golden Age Club in 1949 — the center has been in several locations, but for the past four years it has been headquartered in a carriage house at 37 E. Rockaway Road in Hewlett, on what was a grand estate and is now the Hewlett High School campus.

Open five days a week — except in the summer, when Tuesdays are reserved for day trips to Lido Beach — the center offers a variety of programs for nearly 300 members, ranging from college-level lectures to concerts, health seminars, exercise and creative writing sessions and book discussions.

“We respond to the needs of the population we serve,” said Georgiana Wolfson, an Oceanside resident who has been the center’s executive director since December 2000.

Wolfson said that not only members, who range in age from 65 or so to over 100, benefit from the center. There are also intergenerational activities: several high school students volunteer a total of 72 hours a week there, members are recruited as guest speakers for Hewlett High School classes, and Woodmere Middle School students visit the center as well.

On April 24, 90 people attended a talk by John Kendrick, a popular lecturer, about the classic film “Casablanca.” “He is entertaining and well-versed in the subject matter,” Wolfson said.

How it began
Harriette Wolff and Corinne Daniels are credited with founding the Golden Age Club. A March 1949 meeting held in Wolff’s home was attended by 13 others. As the year ended, about 50 members met once a week. Past President Elinor Tannenbaum said that the two women envisioned “a place where senior persons could find companionship, discover the joy of creative work and continuing education, and best of all, meet and exchange ideas with their contemporaries.”

Two years after it was formed, the group incorporated as the Five Towns Golden Age Club, offered half-day programs three days a week. Meetings were held at the Woodmere firehouse. In the late 1950s, the club moved to the former 4th Precinct headquarters on Franklin Avenue in Woodmere, where its membership grew to 150. In 1966 the group changed its name to the Five Towns Senior Center Inc. and formed a satellite group, the Inwood Senior Center.

In the late 1960s, Charles Wolfberg became a member, and began a three-generation run of family involvement that included his daughter, Helen Wolfberg, and her daughter, Hewlett resident Norma Rosenberg. “I always say there’s a lot in someone’s life to keep them busy,” Rosenberg said. “[My grandfather] lived to 97, my mother lived to 99; both were participants. It kept their minds stimulated. Mother never missed an exercise class. She wound up with some wonderful friends.”

Rosenberg, who was approached by Wolfson to serve on the center’s board of directors after Rosenberg’s mother died two years ago, is currently the board’s vice president, and remains an active participant in center activities. “I go to the book reviews, never missed a Broadway show trip and attend the lectures and, of course, board meetings,” she said.

More changes
In 1970, the center moved to 124 Franklin Ave. in Woodmere, activities were scheduled from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. four days a week, and a daily lunch program was initiated. A year later, the Inwood Senior Center severed its relationship with the Five Towns center.

The Inwood group remains active and meets in the Five Towns Community Center in Lawrence. Membership for the Five Towns seniors reached 200 in 1972. A four-day summer program was added in 1973, along with a beach day, provided by the Town of Hempstead. Membership grew from 300 in 1977 to 400 a year later.

Irene Lowenbraun was invited by Tannenbaum to come and see the center, and after 30 years she remains involved, and serves on its board. “It is so important for the elders in the community — and the elders are getting younger — to have a place to gather, socialize,” said Lowenbraun, a Woodmere resident for 14 years who previously lived in East Rockaway for 38 years.

A retired bookkeeper, Lowenbraun attends the book discussions, goes on trips and plays cards at the center. “It’s a very important part of the community,” she said.

Current Board President Richard Braverman got involved with the center in 1991, as a member of the Hewlett-Woodmere Board of Education. His grandmother had become a member 30 years earlier. “If you don’t use your brain, it kind of atrophies,” said Braverman, an attorney who lives in East Rockaway. “In our community it gives seniors a place to go, not only for recreation, but for education.”

Moving forward
In 2009, Five Towns Community Chest sold 124 Franklin Ave., and the center had to find a new home. For about a year and half it was headquartered in Temple Beth Emeth and Trinity-St. John’s Church, both in Hewlett. It moved into the Rockaway Road carriage house in September 2010.

Expanding its programs, CALE has helped its members continue to be productive and creative. Hewlett resident Esther Bogen credits the center’s Writers Workshop with helping her to write a book, “Short Memories of a Long Life.” “This book was born and developed right there, week by week, at the Writers Workshop at CALE,” she wrote in a letter to Wolfson.

Financial support comes from several sources, including the Town of Hempstead, Community Chest and the National Council of Jewish Women, Peninsula Section. Community Chest Executive Director Bob Block said that CALE is one of the organizations that make the Five Towns a worthwhile community.

“Providing programs both social and educational, along with recreational trips, is a luxury not every community can afford,” Block said. “Community Chest is pleased to provide a portion of the funding required to produce such a fine program.”

The National Council of Jewish Women opened a boutique in 1954 to sponsor an eight-week summer program, and its ties to the center remain strong. “NCJW has been a constant and ardent support of CALE,” said Peninsula Section Co-president Abby Fox. “We understand the importance of lifelong learning and staying active through the senior years. Happy birthday to CALE! May you continue to thrive and enrich the lives of so many in the community.”

Have an opinion about CALE? Send your letter to the editor to jbessen@liherald.com.