RiverMills Center receives state funding for building upkeep

RiverMills Center Executive Director Sherry Manyak accepts a $50,000 earmark from the state delegation to help with capital improvement projects at the building.
Reminder Publishing photo by Tyler Garnet

CHICOPEE — Elected officials gathered on March 16 at the Council on Aging at RiverMills Center to present a $50,000 earmark check for infrastructure improvements and maintenance of the building.

State Rep. Shirley Arriaga, state Sens. Jake Oliveira and Adam Gomez, Chicopee Mayor John Vieau and RiverMills Center Executive Director Sherry Manyak gathered to discuss the importance of the funding to the organization’s overall mission.

Manyak said the funding will be used for several projects, including a repaint of the building, an expansion of its gardening program with the help of the carpenters’ union and the purchase of a new shed for storage.

She said the money will also benefit the center’s programming, especially the $2 lunches that occur every Monday through Friday. Reservations must be made at least one day in advance by calling 413-534-3698 or stopping by RiverMills.

“It is a tremendous help to our programming,” Manyak stated of the funding. “Like everyone’s talking about, our $2 lunches. In today’s economy, it’s actually really hard to maintain a $2 lunch, so this helps us to supplement our lunch.”

Manyak also talked about receiving support from the city and state. “It’s great to see people investing in our city,” she stated.
Arriaga talked about why it was so easy to help secure the funding for the Senior Center.
“We’re happy to support the Senior Center and everything they do on behalf of our seniors and all of the volunteers. We have over 100 volunteers that make today possible every single day, not only to have hot meals provided here at lunchtime, but also all the activities to include lunches [for] those who cannot make it here,” Arriaga said. “We understand that this is a beautiful facility, but it takes funds, it takes dollars, and we want to maintain it this way for years to come. It was an easy ask and an easy thing to do for us all on behalf of you to get this funding to support the upkeep here in the Senior Center.”

Vieau also expressed his excitement in the city receiving the earmark to help maintain and improve the RiverMills Center.

“It’s about investing back into this building. As it’s gotten 10 years old, it still needs some upkeep and updating, and that’s what this check will help us with. I’m excited to receive this earmark. I want to thank our six delegates for bringing the money to Western Mass. That’s what it’s about, getting our fair share little by little; we’ll take whatever’s available.”

Oliveira applauded and credited Arriaga for securing the funding in the fiscal year 2026 House budget.

He added that Chicopee prioritizes its senior citizen community.

“We understand that even though most of us in this room still see this building as new, there are capital issues that go on with time as buildings age, and having a little bit of funding from the state come back here to the city of Chicopee so we can continue to have one of the most beautiful Senior Centers in Western Massachusetts. We want to make sure that we continue to provide these $2 lunches when a lot of area communities are thinking about cutting programming for their senior centers, including scaling back days,” Oliveira said.