QUINCY — It’s 12:30 p.m. and Chef Travis Wells is hand-rolling dough for homemade buns to go with French dip sandwiches while the beef waits to be roasted. No, it’s not a high-end restaurant; the sandwiches will be served at the Quincy Senior Center and dinner will be less than $15 per person. 

“All our food is made from scratch,” said center Director Stacia Soukup. “The only thing we don’t make from scratch is our pancake mix.” 

The Quincy Senior Center serves anywhere from 35 to 55 people on Tuesday and Thursday evenings when dinner is served. The center also serves lunch Mondays and Wednesdays, Soukup said. The roast beef is popular, Wells said, but his meatloaf is a big draw, too. Lunch is $6 for members and $7 for non-members, and dinner is only $11 for members and $12 for everybody else.  

Soukup has been the director at the center since 2018, she said. She saw the community through the COVID-19 pandemic, which was a tough time for everybody but especially seniors. 

“It was important to me to continue to serve the membership through meal service,” she said. Of course, we couldn't dine in, so we decided to offer takeout in the parking lot. So, myself and the kitchen staff would show up every Tuesday and Thursday like we always did, and we would generate a lot of meals and deliver them to the parking lot … It was an opportunity, not only for them to pick up a meal, but to see one another, Even if it was just from their car, they could wave.” 

The senior center isn’t just a place for older folks to get a good meal. The center offers the usual bingo and pinochle games but also hosts a monthly movie and pizza night as well as Stay Active and Independent for Life, or SAIL, classes, balance classes and line dancing to keep seniors fit and healthy. 

“(Line dancing) teaches the brain and the body to work together,” said Jackie Ovenall, a center member who still dances at just short of 95. “People say, ‘Oh, I can’t line dance,’ but they mean they have never tried because you can if you can count to four. … (One member) came in on a walker and could hardly take a step, and after two years working with the music and trying the steps, she now does all the dances.” 

The center also has a library with books and games for anyone to use and a Chat & Stitch session every Wednesday for crocheting enthusiasts. 

“We have a storage room where we have bins of yarn,” Ovenell said. “I do about 300 hats a year.” 

The senior center has about 125 members, Soukup said. Some non-members come around occasionally to participate in various activities, she said, and they’re welcome as well. Membership is $30 a year, which pays for itself just in the meal costs, Ovenell said, let alone all the other activities, most of which are free. 

“You grow old when you sit down in your rocking chair and say, ‘Oh, poor pitiful me,’” she said. “(The center is here) to give people like that an opportunity to gather.” 

An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the cost of membership. It has been corrected above.

    Quincy Senior Center Director Stacia Soukup, left, and longtime member Jackie Ovenell stand in the dining room at the Quincy Senior Center.
  

    Chef Tyler Wells hand-rolls dough for buns to go with French dip sandwiches at the Quincy Senior Center.