The Clanton Senior Center is a place where people can walk in as strangers and leave as friends, and new friends are wanted.

The senior center will hold an open house March 8 from 9:30-11 a.m. for anyone 60 years and older interested in what it has to offer.

“We’d like to have more people coming in,” said Martha Thornburgh, a volunteer at the senior center. “Especially after you retire, you need things to fill your day.”

The senior center serves meals, hosts weekly games of bingo, cards, dominos and pool and gives people a place to visit with each other.

“We do the Meals on Wheels program,” Thornburgh added. “We have several church volunteer groups that deliver the meals on a daily basis.”

Thornburgh said about 16-25 people spend time at the senior center’s facility on Enterprise Road each week.

“We just would like to have more people,” Thornburgh said. “We would like to know what the seniors would be interested in.”

The senior center is located in a facility built in 2001, which also houses the Chilton County Emergency Assistance Center, food bank and thrift store.

“It’s a place for seniors,”

Although all services at the senior center are free, donations are accepted.

Monetary donations are used to buy food for the food bank, Thornburgh said.

Thornburgh has volunteered at the center since 2005 and helps Faye Price, who became the new senior manager in January.

They are hoping to hold a short quilting class, a Sips n Strokes-style painting session and an Internet usage class.

“It’s such a nice facility,” Thornburgh said. “It’s not as well-known as it should be. We’re trying to get a little bit more publicity.”

The Clanton Senior Center is located at 508 Enterprise Road. For more information, call (205) 755-3248.