On June 8, Mayor Robert Kennedy attended the retirement ceremony for Francine Petrone, who directed the Freeport Salvation Army Senior Center at 66 Church St. for nearly 28 years.
The Senior Center operates five days per week. Two buses that are handicapped accessible pick up those who need transport in the morning, and return them home in the mid-afternoon, as well as taking them for trips like shopping at Walmart or enjoying the beach. Breakfast and lunch are provided for them, too. Perhaps the greatest challenge for a busy director like Petrone was the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Francine oversaw the whole seniors program, their coming in and out, making sure that they ate,” said Captain Giovanny Guerrero, who, with Major Ester Romilia-Guerrero, oversees all the projects of the Freeport Salvation Army. “During the pandemic, she visited seniors at home and brought them food. She called to check on them during the whole pandemic, like a mother, following up with calls, how well they were doing, did they need anything.”
In fact, Petrone was very much like a mother—like her own mother, Muriel Von Salzen, Petrone’s predecessor.
“She started in the old Salvation Army church, just one day a week with seniors and one night a week with a blind group,” said Petrone, who thinks the current location at 66 Church St. opened in about 1973. “At first the only meal served was lunch. Later, breakfast was added. Altogether, she was there over 40 years.”
By the time Petrone took over, the programs had come a long way, though she applied her own energy and inventiveness to continuing program development.
“Nowadays,” said Guerrero, “the Senior Center gives breakfast, exercise, stretching, music, arts and crafts. While they’re here, we provide an environment where they are right at home, but can do things they enjoy doing. At midday, we provide lunch. About 3-3:30, we start taking them home, and deliver them to their doorsteps.”
Prior to the pandemic, 125 to 150 seniors came to the Senior Center daily. Thanks to Petrone’s diligence and the support of the Freeport Salvation Army staff, connections were retained during the pandemic shutdowns.
“She was like a mother to all of us,” Guerrero said. “If she said something like, ‘I’m preparing gifts for all the seniors,’ we came up with a plan to provide the seniors with projects like paint-by-number to keep them busy for two weeks. Then we would call them up and tell them what a great job they did and what we were going to do with those projects. We never stopped connecting and it brought us a lot of joy.”
Though the current attendance is more like 60 to 80 seniors each day, the joy is still there.
“My years at the center were a blessing,” said Petrone. “It was a learning experience, for sure. I was able to meet and spend time with seniors from all walks of life. We wanted our center to be a home away from home—a place to feel loved and safe—a place to keep growing and make new friends. I’m honored to have the opportunity to be the director of the Salvation Army Freeport SCSC.”
