Local residents were filled with a festive spirit, as the Senior Citizens of Westbury held their annual holiday luncheon and celebration of their 45th anniversary on Dec. 5.

Approximately a hundred club members and guests attended the afternoon party, held at the Westbury Manor, on Jericho Turnpike in Westbury.

"We certainly have come a long way in the 45 years," said Jean Silverman, director of the Senior Citizens of Westbury, as she welcomed guests to the luncheon. "And we hope in the future to continue to serve all the senior citizens in our community and their families for a very long time to come."

The Senior Citizens of Westbury is a senior center that serves older adults from the Villages of Westbury and Old Westbury, and the Westbury School District. The organization got its start in 1956 as one of the first senior-centers established in Nassau County, as a recreation-educational program meeting weekly. Today, the Senior Citizens of Westbury Center is a multi-purpose, 5-day-a-week program serving more than 500 local residents. It offers a variety of recreational and educational programs, including crafts, arts and physical fitness programs. Through the center's ACES (Adult Cultural & Educational Studies) program, members can take classes in humanities, poetry, literature, current events, calligraphy, languages, music, computers, defensive driving, Tai Chi, bowling, dancing and swimming. Other center programs include transportation, meals, and recreational trips, as well as health promotion services, such as screenings for flu and pneumonia, mammograms and hearing tests.

The organization is a private, non-profit corporation that is funded by the Incorporated Villages of Westbury and Old Westbury, Town of North Hempstead, State of New York, and Westbury School District, as well as membership fundraisers. Funding also comes from the Nassau County Department of Senior Citizen Affairs, under the Older Americans Act through the New York State Office for the Aging.

During the Dec. 5 luncheon, Town of North Hempstead Supervisor May Newburger presented Silverman with a Certificate of Recognition, and congratulated the center on its 45 years of service to the local community. Westbury Village Clerk Thomas Savino also congratulated the center, and extended holiday greetings on behalf of Village Mayor Ernest Strada. Also among those introduced to the crowd at the celebration were local clergy members, Rev. Ralph Sommer, pastor of St. Brigid Church and Rev. Kenneth Hessel, pastor of Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, as well as Village Trustee Al Campbell, and Yetta Waldman, recently retired director of the senior center.