GORHAM – Every Monday through Thursday at 9 a.m., Ray Perron arrives at the Lakes Region Senior Center in Gorham to dutifully prepare coffee for the morning crowd.

A widower and one of 100 area seniors who are members of the center based at the former Little Falls School near the routes 202/217 rotary, Perron enjoys the interaction and has made many friends since the center’s opening in September.

“I think it’s a great place for people who have lost a loved one, or who are just plain lonely or old or whatever their reasons are,” said Perron, a Gorham resident and retired Hannaford store manager. “It’s just a nice place for them. We have a lot of conversation. We play a lot of games. It’s fun.”

With 100 members who pay $10 annual dues, the newly established center is sprouting wings and becoming a major focus of area seniors’ lives. But it could come to an end if a permanent home is not found soon.

Center founder Glenn Lynds of Windham knew the likelihood of having to move was great when he accepted an offer last fall to share the former Little Falls School with the Gorham Recreation after-school program. With notice given recently that the center needs to look elsewhere should town leaders choose to use the building for new purposes, such as a police or fire station, Lynds is searching for a new home.

“It’s not time specific,” Lynds said. “When we came here we knew it was temporary. We didn’t know if it was one or two years but we knew we couldn’t stay. What they’re going to do with the building, I don’t know.”

According to Gorham Town Manager David Cole, the seniors have been excellent stewards of the building, where they enjoy several spacious former classrooms complete with a kitchen, movie projector screen, couches, a table for jigsaw puzzles, a piano, and several tables for board and card games. There is also access to a gymnasium where the seniors play pickleball, a hybrid ping-pong/tennis type of game.

“We haven’t asked anyone to leave,” Cole said. “From Day 1, they knew it was temporary and I think what has gone on is they have been reminded it is a temporary home and there’s no guarantee that anybody can stay there beyond June 30 because no one really knows from year to year when the town is going to use that for some other purpose.”

The space fits their needs, Lynds said, and has come at no cost. A new space would need to be similar and accommodate large gatherings.

Lynds said he is scanning the Windham-Gorham area, where most members reside, for suitable space. He is willing to pay rent (using money collected from member dues), but it must be at a modest rate, since dues are low.

Lynds is also looking for an open area that can hold at least 50 people and where furniture could be left permanently.

“There are places we could go where we could set up and take down chairs every day, but we can’t do that with senior citizens,” Lynds said. “It’s not practical.”

Lynds said the prospective new space would also need to be heated, have kitchen access, and accessible to handicapped seniors.

“The idea is to have it open and set up so people can walk in on a daily basis, come in and knit, play cards, play games, work on a puzzle or sew. Or just talk, they can sit and read,” Lynds said.

Lynds, who was inspired to start a senior center after a popular morning hangout, Tim Horton’s in North Windham, closed last year, is hoping that getting the word out will help with finding someone willing to give the center a new permanent home.

“I’ve been going around trying to find places. But I have to say it’s been difficult. Some places you find that we could use aren’t anywhere near big enough, others you have to tear down every day. So, we want to get the word out. If somebody does have a building, we want to know about it,” Lynds said.

Jean Lake of Windham and Rosemary Holleman of Gorham, right, clean up the main activity room of the Lakes Region Senior Center, based in the former Little Falls School on Acorn Street in Gorham. (Staff photo by John Balentine)
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