That Pavilion so visible from Route 6 that sits in front of the Benjamin D. Cushing Community Center is better than it was just a few months ago, having added better furnishings, flowerpots, ceiling fans, electrical outlets and lighting.
According to Harry Norweb, none of this or anything else going on at the Cushing Community Center would be possible without application of three other C’s: collaboration, cooperation and commitment. At the heart of the facility’s progress is the Cushing Community Center Working Group, which prides itself on being “not better, just faster.”
The slogan stems from the 2020 dissolution of the Marion Council on Aging’s advisory board.
The town’s bylaws written in 1970 called for a fairly sizable board for the COA (a nine-person minimum and a five-person advisory board) that functioned as an operating board that made decisions and did the work itself.
As Norweb explained, once the Town of Marion staffed its COA (Karen Gregory) and began reporting to the town administrator, the COA Board ceased to exist in terms of controlling interest in money or policy. Having seen its role as a consultant diminished, the members started focusing on building issues that would benefit the community.
“Our focus, seniors, will specifically benefit,” said Norweb.
As the board officially dissolved, Norweb recalls with a smile, “(Town Administrator) Jay McGrail picked us by the scruff of the neck and said, ‘where do you guys think you are going?’ Because we still needed the work.”
Thusly, the CCC Working Group was born, and without the red tape of town government has been hard at work more freely operating to better the Community Center. Geoff Gorman is now the town administrator, and Norweb said the Working Group is grateful for the trust he has shown the members.
“Next to money, volunteers are the most valuable resource you can have,” said Norweb, singing the praises of Merry Conway, the six-year chairperson of the Friends of the Marion COA who will pass the torch to Dianne Cosman and Jorie Borden, the overseer of all things horticultural.
The little things and the big things, like the hedge growing along Route 6, are the product of volunteerism that is changing the look of the Community Center not only from without but from within.
That hedge, it is believed, will dampen the sound of traffic to a point that the center can soon be an attractive venue for events like weddings. The center has had baby showers.
Inside the building there are partitions that separate activity areas, and a wooden floor will soon replace the existing one-third tile and two-thirds carpeted floors.
“It wasn’t just a privacy issue,” said Norweb, noting that a visiting podiatrist now meets patients behind the closed door of office space.
A combination of $7,500 funds, some from private donations and grant money and a generous donation from the Friends of Marion Recreation, have brought the Pavilion to its current progress point.
“It’s also not widely known that you can rent the Pavilion and this building,” said Norweb, who suspects more activity by 2024. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a wedding or two.”
The new storage facility slab has been laid out back of the center, and there has been some work in the kitchen, just not enough to allow events to cook on site. For now, caterers are required.
By next year, Norweb forecasts more usage of existing facilities.
“I’ve not always been a big fan of build it and they will come,” he said, nothing plans to improve signage along Route 6 and the property line.
He would like to see exercise and play facilities expand beyond the walking path recently installed, a Route 6 crosswalk and – fingers crossed – a future connection to the crosstown bike path.
Above all, Norweb wants the public to understand one thing perfectly clear.
“This isn’t the COA, it isn’t the Rec. Department; both of them are resident departments, this is the Community Center,” said Norweb. “Referring it to the COA is a complete misnomer, it would be like referring to the town hall as the building department.”
As such since donated to the town by the VFW in May 2017 – that’s when Marion voters accepted the donation – a dormant period that lasted several months gave way to initial work by the town’s Department of Public Works to achieve ADA-compliance. In 2019, the Cushing Community Center was born as we know it.
The center has recently received the donation of a 650-pound stone facade in the name of the late Joe Marini, the Marion-based stone mason whom Norweb said had done much for the town.
Trees have been donated by the Marion Parks & Tree Committee, and next year the Department of Public Works will be taking over the lawn care at the center.
“I can’t say enough good things about the Facilities Department and the DPW. … The DPW to a man have a can-do attitude … they always do it so pleasantly,” said Norweb.
Bottom line, said Norweb, the CCC is open.
A person can spontaneously bring lunch over to the Pavilion for some summer shade and use the restroom inside. Families are welcome to come in.
For those interested in renting out the Pavilion or the building for special events, visit marionma.gov for details.
By Mick Colageo