Glens Falls Senior Center Hosting Senior Expo Sept. 21
GLENS FALLS — A Senior Expo will be held on Sept. 21 at Heritage Hall inside Cool Insuring Arena, providing relevant resources and information to the senior community. The event is being run by the Glens Falls Senior Center.
The Expo is scheduled to run from 1 to 7 p.m. Kim Bren, Executive Director of the Glens Falls Senior Center, said the goal is for the Expo to be a “one-stop shop” for seniors.
“I wanted to cover the whole gamut as people go through the aging process, and know what information is out there and services that are available to you,” said Bren.
Bren mentioned home repairs/services, home healthcare, assisted living, nursing homes, end-of-life planning, healthcare proxies, insurance, realtors, bankers, and nonprofit organizations as some of the services that will be available. She also said that a senior service specialist from the Senior Center will be on hand at the event.
“We’ll have the insurance companies, since open enrollment is coming up in October. Most of the insurance companies have picked a table that will be there for the plans,” Bren said. “We have some assisted living facilities, we have some nursing home facilities. … We have Glens Falls Housing, they’ll be there. The Cedars (Senior Living Community Apartments). We’re just trying to cover the whole range. We have attorneys that will be there too.”
This is the first Senior Expo to be held by the Senior Center, with Bren saying she hopes “we’ll do really well.”
“We’re going to run it from 1-7, so if you’re still working, there’s time to come after work to check things out,” said Bren, who emphasized that the event is not solely for seniors.
“We have people that call here that are looking for services for mom and dad, so it’s not just for seniors. It’s for the community. If you have an aging person that you take care of, or a neighbor, or you know of someone who might need these services, it’s good to know this information.”
Bren, who has worked for the Senior Center for eight years, said the idea came from a similar event held near her hometown.
“I’m not from the area, and my grandmother and her friends used to go to a senior expo at Massena Arena, where I’m from,” Bren said. “I just thought, well this is something that would be fabulous down here to get the information out to the community of everything that can be available.”
There are currently 64 vendors signed up for the Expo, according to Bren.
“I was very surprised at the number of vendors we have received, and I’m so grateful for all of them,” she said. “It’s going to be a great show. It’s going to run just like a business show. They’ll have their table, you can stop and talk to them and request information.”
While this is the first Expo to be held by the Senior Center, Bren said the goal is to make the event an annual occurrence and the main fundraiser for the organization.
“I would love to make it an annual thing. What we want to do is have it be our signature fundraiser for the year,” said Bren. “That way, we are doing a fundraiser, but yet we’re also helping the community.”
The Senior Center will also put together a resource guide following the Expo, “so if someone has a question, we can give them that information,” said Bren.
Romeo Toyota is the presenting sponsor of the Expo, while CDPHP and Hudson Headwaters Health Network are silver sponsors.
“Just hopefully everybody comes out, and we get some really good attendance,” Bren said. “I just think it’s going to be super.”