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By BARBARA S. ROTHSCHILD
Courier-Post Staff
At 80, Peggy Neff has no plans to move away from the township she's called home for the last 45 years.
"I wouldn't go anywhere else. Haddon Township has everything for seniors. If you don't take advantage of it, it's your fault," Neff said.
"We go to concerts. There's a bus to take you shopping. We took a trip to New Hope, and had the best ice cream ever!" Neff recalled.
A resident of the Heather House condominium complex on Cuthbert Boulevard, Neff serves as president of AARP Chapter 3653. The group meets the first Wednesday of every month at Grace Baptist Church.
The chapter currently has about 48 members, down from a high of more than 100. Some of the drop is due to members passing away, but part of it is also that township seniors have so many activities available and often cannot make meetings on a particular afternoon.
Although Neff was born and raised in Camden, the majority of the township's seniors have lived their entire lives in Haddon Township, said Senior Citizen Coordinator Betty Band.
Band conducts some home visits to help seniors with paperwork or make sure they are getting the proper state- funded prescription coverage. The township's most popular service for seniors is its daily shopping excursions.
"The seniors are pretty active here. They love the bus trips. A lot of them don't have people who can take them around ... They just love to get out for the day," Band said.
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Population Age 60+ 1990: 4,139 2000: 3,519 Change: -15% Source: U.S. Census Bureau |
There are 267 seniors living in Rohrer Towers I and II and Coles Landing, the three rent-subsidized independent-living apartment buildings for low-income seniors ages 62 and over. The rest of the township's senior citizens live in other apartment or condominium complexes, have moved in with their grown children, or are still living in the houses they may have purchased as young married couples.
ago. She and her husband, Earl, 77, still live in the 102- year-old house they purchased on West Walnut Street when they were newlyweds.
Earl Clark, a retired railroad worker, is an emergency medical technician who still serves as captain of the township's ambulance squad. His wife is president of the Senior Citizens Association of Haddon Township, which meets at Grace Baptist Church the first Tuesday of every month.
The association currently has about 40 members ages 65 to 80, Jane Clark said.
Yet another senior club, Holy Saviour Senior Group, is is associated with the Catholic church in the township.
Jane Clark's enthusiasm about her chosen hometown has grown over the years.
"It's a great place to live. The township has excellent schools and shopping. There are nice eating places, we have a lot of good friends, and we enjoy the township's bus trips (for seniors)," she said.
Band could vouch for the popularity of township-sponsored senior trips to places such as Smithville, Cape May and and Sweetwater Casino. In early May, she was compiling a waiting list for a bus trip next month to Ocean City for a stroll along the boardwalk and lunch at a popular seafood restaurant. With 75 people signed up, Band planned to fill up a second bus.
The everyday bus used for senior transportation - dubbed the Haddon Towncar - seats 16. It shuttles passengers to the library and different malls and supermarkets on weekdays, with occasional special trips to places such as Duffield Farms in Turnersville and the Amish Market in Williamstown.
During the summer, the township buses seniors to weekly county-sponsored concerts at Cooper River Park.
Also in the summer, the township-run Crystal Lake Pool holds a free senior citizens' swim on weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon.
Medical transportation for seniors, funded by the county, is available via Sen-Han Transit.
Perhaps the most recognizable symbol of the township's concern for its senior citizens is Rohrer Towers I, which rises 11 stories high in Westmont adjacent to the Hi- Speedline.
The building, which opened in October 1969, is owned and operated by the township's housing authority and the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. Its 100 units are mostly singles, but two are occupied by couples. The waiting list for the 40 efficiencies is up to a year, and there is at least a two-year waiting list for the 60 one-bedroom units, said site manager Carol Tamashiro.
Waiting lists are longer - up to five years - at 21-year- old, eight-story Rohrer Towers II, with 100 units and 104 residents, and 3-year-old, four-story Coles Landing, with 58 units and 61 residents. Both are privately owned but operated under strict HUD guidelines.
"We have the oldest population, so there's more turnover, as tenants move into assisted living or nursing homes, or pass away," Tamashiro said.
Residents pay 30 percent of their adjusted income as rent, with the remainder subsidized, so rents range from $ 50 to $600 at all three facilities, which include common rooms stocked with videos, puzzles and reading materials. The large, comfortably furnished rooms are used for club and tenants' association meetings, church services, bingo nights and general socializing.
Although many residents at the three facilities did not move from elsewhere in the township, preference for housing is given to Haddon Township residents, said Rohrer Towers II manager Kathleen Simpkins.
Bea Maines, 83, lived in the Bettlewood section of town for 46 years before she and her husband, Charles, moved to Rohrer Towers I nine years ago. When Charles Maines passed away last year after 62 years of marriage, Bea turned to the other residents for solace.
"There are 87 widows here, so you're never lonely. You always have a shoulder to cry on," said Maines, as she took part in a Tuesday morning arts-and-crafts session.
At Rohrer Towers II on Crystal Lake Avenue, the Busy Hands group meets weekly to crochet caps for premature babies born at Cooper Hospital. The women also crochet blankets and recently donated a number of them to Project Living, part of the 9/11 rescue and support effort.
Millie Gentile, 71, has lived in Haddon Township for 37 years, the past eight of them at Rohrer Towers II.
"It's very friendly here. There's so much to do - bingo, mass, the craft group," Gentile said as she crocheted an an American flag afghan to enter in a county-sponsored art show and exhibit.
Plans to expand senior services look bright, Band said. The township-owned Father & Sons Building on East Ormond Avenue, currently rented out to different groups, would be an ideal spot for a senior center to be open a couple of hours daily, she noted.
Band also wants to try for a grant to purchase three computers, one for residents in each rent-subsidized senior building.
"They'll be able to e-mail their grandchildren," she said.