Center for elderly opens in Makati

Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay has inaugurated the SM Felicidad Sy Center for the Elderly in Barangay Tejeros to serve as a recreation center for the city’s senior citizens as well as a half-way home for referred and rescued senior citizens who need temporary shelter.

Binay said the center was established after the SM Foundation Inc. granted the request of the city government, through the Makati Social Welfare Department, to undertake the renovation and refurbishment of the old Tejeros Barangay Hall along J. P. Rizal street.

"We are very grateful to the SM Foundation Inc. for its prompt response to our call. It is so impressive how within such a short period, it had been able to transform an old structure into a haven of comfort and entertainment for the elderly," Binay said.

He said the city government had sought the support of the foundation in response to the strong clamor for such a facility. This emerged during constant dialogues with the city’s elderly constituents.

SM Foundation executive director Connie Angeles was also present at the inauguration to formally turn over the center to the city government by handing a Deed of Donation to the mayor.

Apart from undertaking the renovation, repainting and refurbishing of the former Tejeros Barangay Hall, the foundation also furnished the SM Felicidad Sy Center with audio-visual equipment, electric fans, furniture, fixtures, cabinets and bookshelves.

Angeles said the SM Foundation was established in 1983 by its chairman, Henry Sy Sr. The foundation is a socio-civic arm of the SM Group of Companies with four areas of advocacy, namely: education through scholarship programs and donations of schoolhouses; mall-based outreach programs; health-oriented projects such as medical missions, a mobile clinic, and hospital activity centers; and religious community projects."