The Willow Glen Resident

Council Watch

Glen's Kirk Community Center will receive new electrical wiring

Upgrade of electric and gas connections would allow center to use second stove, installed last May

By Cecily Barnes

When Kirk Community Center staff in Willow Glen unveiled their shiny new kitchen last May, they didn't realize that the building's archaic wiring would limit them to using only one of the kitchen's two ovens. Senior luncheons had to be limited in size, and cooking classes took a little longer.

"It's just an old building, 50 years old," said Melissa Monsees, the center's gerontology specialist.

Fortunately, the San Jose City Council was poised to approve an additional $33,871 at its Sept. 8 meeting, in order to upgrade the center's electrical and gas connections.

"We've been using it for our luncheons, and we've been loaning it out to the children's side for pizza parties," Monsees said. "Someday it might be used as a nutrition center."

For now it's used for simple purposes, but ones that mean a lot to the seniors who utilize the center.

Cooking classes teach seniors to make healthy meals that are within their means, and the senior luncheons provide an opportunity for socializing and community.

Once the wires are upgraded and reconfigured, the senior luncheons could be expanded to include more people.

In addition to letting staff cook twice as much food, the electrical upgrade will secure the wiring enough to install a much-needed air-conditioning system in the center. All summer long, the center has gone without.

"It's been terrible, very warm," said center director Gary Okazaki. "We have actually had the seniors go home due to the heat; we just do not want them to be in distress from a lot of heat."

Electrical upgrading will include the installation of an underground conduit into the boiler room, as well as a large panel stretching from the boiler room to the oven.

Kirk Community Center is located at 1601 Foxworthy Ave. For program information, call 723-1571.

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