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Casa De La Amistad Senior Center
Also located at our Washington Street facility is La Casa de la Amistad. Funded
by the Berks County Office of Aging, it is a linguistically and
culturally appropriate Latino Senior Center program for individuals over 58
years old. It operates from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. It
provides social, cultural, recreational, and educational activities,
 which include weekly English classes. Seniors are also provided with meals that
are culturally appropriate and consistent with their lifelong diet.
A social services component tends to socioeconomic needs. These include case
management, transportation, translation/interpretation, and filling out forms
for Social Security, welfare, SSI, PACE, rent rebate, and housing. Recreational
activities at the Center include dominoes, bingo, music, exercise, arts and
crafts, traveling to other centers, field trips, and meeting with other
community organizations. Representatives from other organizations make
presentations on issues relevant to the health, welfare and special interests of
the seniors. The center celebrates anniversaries, birthdays, Easter, Christmas,
Mother's Day and Father's Day.
La Casa de la Amistad was established March 22, 1988, in response to a group of
concerned citizens who approached the Center expressing a need for this service.
Many Latino senior citizens felt physically and emotionally isolated with little
 contact outside their homes. While they were welcome at existing
senior centers, these facilities lacked the bilingual personnel
and cultural competency to understand and serve the needs of Latino seniors. The
program at La Casa de la Amistad is one of the most successful and important
components of the group of services provided by the Hispanic Center. It has met
and exceeded all original program expectations and in recent years has grown to
be one of the most successful and widely used senior centers in Berks County. It
currently serves a daily clientele of 100+ persons.
For more information contact us at:
(610) 376-3748
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