Located in Katy, the center offers social and leisure activities to the entire senior community in Katy, according to Amanda Di Dio, the new director of social services.
“There are some nursing homes [and] assisted-living senior living facilities around here, and we invite folks that live there [and] folks that live in their own homes to come and join us for some fun and enrichment and a good time,” Di Dio said.
The Fussell Senior Citizen Center originally started as a three-bedroom house that then expanded to the full building that it is today. It has become so popular with the seniors that many of them have formed lasting friendship groups throughout the years, Di Dio said.
Some activities the center offers often include art classes, regular outings to dinner, going to a movie, museum trips, line dancing, playing games and going to local concerts in the area.
For outings, the center is able to provide transportation to events but unable to provide transportation to the center. Most activities are free for seniors, minus things such as movie tickets or lunches.
The center is equipped with a kitchen that the seniors can cook in, a sports room to watch games in and a backyard space.
With the center being closed for so long, Di Dio is hoping it will return to being the busy activity center it was before its doors closed.
“Our seniors are thrilled to be back. We are doing word-of mouth advertising right now just because we want to be really cautious with folks. We don’t want to bring in the masses and it just be chaos in here,” Di Dio said.
One of the things Di Dio said she wants to focus on is bringing more music activities to the center since her background includes working as a neurologic music therapist.
“I’m excited to have more music in the building, more singing [and] more instruments,” Di Dio said. “Honestly, these folks have been teaching me all kinds of new games, and I am loving learning how to play all these new games. I’m excited to see what else they have to teach me.”
5370 E. Fifth St., Katy
281-391-4837
www.cityofkaty.com/government/city-departments/senior-services
Hours: Mon.-Fri. 8 a.m.-5 p.m., closed Sat.-Sun.
