Judith Calogero, Commissioner, New York state Division of Housing and Community Renewal, cuts the ribbon to open the senior residence on the grounds of the Variety Boys and Girls Club of Queens as Borough President Helen Marshall (r.), City Councilmember Peter Vallone Jr. and his daughters (c.) and Variety Boys and Girls Club of Queens Board of Directors Chairman Salah Hassanein (l.) look on. A little over two years ago, a delegation of elected officials, trustees and local dignitaries broke ground in the parking lot of the Variety Boys and Girls Club of Queens for a unique addition to the club’s headquarters, a $13.5 million housing complex for senior citizens, which would include supportive services and health related activities. Last Wednesday many of those same dignitaries and officials gathered in that same parking lot to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the club and hail the opening of the 11-story, 98-unit senior residence that now occupies the southwest corner of the club’s parking lot and outdoor activities yard.

Thomas Nowierski, president of the board, acted as master of ceremonies. Proclamations and plaques from the city council, the borough president, the mayor and other officials were presented and a host of speakers recounted the club’s history and its place in the community it serves.

The club was founded in the early 1950s, when the number of youth gangs around the country had risen dramatically. Astoria and Long Island City were especially beset by gangs and Meyer ‘Moe’ Baranco and attorney (later Judge) Charles J. Vallone, decided to establish a place for local youth to spend their time off the streets in a wholesome atmosphere. Vallone, Baranco and Salah Hassanein bought a house in Douglaston and raffled it off to raise funds to start the club. Anne Buehler, who began her association with the club as a volunteer when it opened and later served as its executive director, was asked to “baby-sit” the house until it was sold. Her house-sitting job was one of the first of many different tasks she would perform during the club’s first 50 years in existence.

In 1981, the board of directors decided to offer services to young women in the community. Four years later, the club expanded all of its services to girls. Money was raised for an auxiliary gymnasium, and for additional recreational and support services to girls 6 to 17 years of age and the club became the Boys and Girls Club of Queens.

Nearly every speaker stressed that the club continues to expand its offerings to meet the needs of modern-day youths. City Councilmember Peter Vallone Jr., a grandson of Charles Vallone, noted that $20,000 worth of educational materials had been donated to the club’s library and that Assemblymember Michael Gianaris had provided $2,000 in materials for the library and community center.

The computer facilities were cause for another part of the festivities. The MetLife foundation Leverage for Learning Fund made the Variety Boys and Girls Club of Queens its 34th of 37 learning centers nationwide. April Hawkins, program manager of the MetLife Foundation made the announcement and invited the audience to tour the club’s Learning Center. The MetLife mascot, Snoopy, also made an appearance.

The club’s link to the senior residence was noted by Nowierski as out of the ordinary. “It’s not often you see the board of a not-for-profit [organization] commit to something like this,” he said of the senior residence, the ribbon-cutting for which immediately followed the ceremonies commemorating the club’s 50th anniversary.

“We didn’t do it alone,” Judith Calogero, commissioner of the New York state Division of Housing and Community Renewal, pointed out. As she had two years before, Calogero acknowledged the need for affordable housing for senior citizens in New York City and noted the many institutions that had joined in the effort to finance the senior citizens’ residence. The state had provided $13.7 million in tax credits and other financing programs and the Federal Home Loan Bank made a $480,000 grant toward the project.

After the ribbon cutting that officially opened the senior residence, seniors and visitors enjoyed lunch in the residence activity room. Several people toured a resident’s apartment, which although consisting of only two rooms, was spacious, light and airy, with breathtaking views of the Triborough Bridge. Although the residence is designed for able-bodied seniors, amenities such as a liberal number of well placed grab bars on the unit’s bathroom were much in evidence. The unit is rent stabilized.

Photos Linda J. Wilson