DVD "CANCER is curable NOW is a documentary about what you must do to help you or your loved ones cure themselves or this dreaded disease. IF YOU WANT TO LIVE, YOU MUST WATCH THIS MOVIE, AND DO WHAT IT SAYS!!!!!!!! ...read more

I'm from the Throggs Neck area. I visited this senior center last year (2009) for several months in Winter, things were different then. There was more organization, and order last year, a sense of friendliness . There seemed to be more outgoing activities for the seniors. I went back to this center during March, April and May of this year (2010) and found the place is chaos. The reception area is crowded, people sitting around, & looks like an unemployment office in the 1960s, worse, a welfare office where people sit around talking loud waiting to see a case worker. The food is very good. Breakfast is a full meal for only .50 cents which to me, is a price way too low and diminishes the value of the work the cooks perform to prepare such great meals. All other senior centers charge $1.25 and up. Lunch was a very low $1.00 and it was a nice portion. The small dining rooms are also used as activity rooms as well. Seniors were not friendly to me, probably because I like the theatre, and I don't like the misery-loves-company style of the sedate bingo-dominoes deadbeats milling around and sitting at the tables all day long. Other senior centers have their members go to the movies, to the malls, visit one another during the day, and make trips outside the Bronx. Atlantic City is passe these days. The thinking of the managers of this senior center when I visited it, seemed to be that the directors "know what's good for the seniors". The senior members are mostly Hispanic which is real unique, but they talk so loud, and when you enter the senior center, noise from loud voices hits you with the sound of a large old TV that greets you as you enter the main reception area. The staff were coy to greet me, seemed apprehensive about why I was there, probably asking themselves, "Who is she", and since I dress good, not like the dress-down funky style of these days, they probably thought I was a government agent.. Monroe is small, crowded , stress producing place with a not so welcoming front entrance. You can tell it's a government building because the exterior is drab looking, cold and hostile, and sadly, so are the inhabitants of the building. I won't go back for there is too much going on, too much chaos and disorder., which is sad since last year, all was well and nice and orderly and the seniors spent less time indoors and more time out side in activities. This site is badly overcrowded and has too many people sitting around all day, too many home attendants I observed squandering lots of time in this building. The place is noisy, crowded and not one I would visit anytime soon. Some body should get rid of all the shopping carts and walkers that litter the little walking space left.. As a sign of how decrepit this site is, on one occasion in April of this year, I asked for permission to make a phone call in the main office, and an unsmiling lady allowed me to use the phone, only for me to discover t that the handset and the telephone , an old Lucent model from the 1980s, does not work, so I had to use the phone on her desk, which really tells you how bad things are in this senior center where the old phone wires are dangling from the wall immediately above the lady who let me use her old telephone. She seemed at a loss at having to deal with such miserable working conditions, and her sadness seemed to say, "this place stinks". The sponsors deserve a better larger site some where else. As a retired professional Woman of Hispanic descent, I do not mean to sell this place short. The majority of the people who attend this center are good and friendly seniors, and the kitchen workers are very dedicated, warm, and hard working. Eating and sitting all day makes cholesterol and this site is loaded with seniors sitting around waiting for the end. Innovation, radical thinking and new ideas and new activities are sorely needed at this site. ...read more

The James Monroe Senior Center is located in the Soundview section of the Bronx. The facility operates mostly on public funds provided by the City of New York. Monroe senior center is a nice place for seniors to congregate and have a cheap breakfast for .50 cents, and a lunch meal depression-style, for a dollar. The facility performs badly from a business managers' perspective because it operates what amounts to a food pantry style meals program, makes no money. Breakfast is ridiculous. 50 cents when the rest of the City's senior centers offer breakfast and lunch for $1.00 or $1.25 per meal. Since the average senior center breakfast meal costs approximately $4.00 a plate, Monroe senior center is actually losing big money in its subsidized food budget. The facility is sponsored by a private agency called Institute for the Puerto Rican Hispanic Elderly, Inc. We visited, 5 of us, this senior gathering place frequently during the months of March, April, May, June, July, and August. The place looks depressing and run-down. The lighting is dingy, the place is not inviting for there is too much emphasis on being "old" as opposed to being elderly as demonstrated by the multitude of walkers and shopping carts that litter the already densely crowded facility. The Director appears to be an imperious Woman who speaks to her employees with the style of Mussolini. It's the Napoleonic complex that says "I am the boss here!". We get it. The main office of Monroe is "guarded" by an unfriendly Woman who serves as a case manager or assistant director and demonstrates the proclivities of an introverted isolated person. The senior members are a nice enough group. The main staple at Monroe is the sleepy -hollow sitting at bingo and domino games. . MEALS: The food is very tasty and we compliment the staff chefs for this. The menus which are displayed on the centers walls as one enters the reception area- and their description of the month's meals reads as if they were crafted exclusively by one person and no real input from seniors. The overcrowded conditions at this site would shame the most liberal advocates for senior programs. Monroe Senior center is severely overcrowded. CLEANLINESS: The Monroe senior center gets the 5 stars. Clean is nice. The floors are dirty though due to the large flux of human traffic. These folks need a much larger , spanking new facility. Are you listening Mike Bloomberg?. The Skeletons Jump Out Of The Closet:: We saw some signs of unlawful corruption taking place on Fridays during the late afternoon parties held at this center, and witnessed strong hard liquor being served and mixed into the pina colada by a female staffer (her name is Elizabeth) . We even tasted the pina colada laced with the booze. Monroe senior center is a nice place to visit. I recommend it for a visit. It is however, dingy looking from the outside, and extremely small on the inside (gives me claustrophobia), and is located in a very unsafe part of the Bronx. The senior center lacks the space to run its programs. Monroe senior center deserves better and it has lots of staff and volunteers that are caring and commited. Monroe senior center opened in 1962 in a different time when the demand for senior services was very mild compared to today's rapid growth of the senior population. Privatization works and the government can not fund these places anymore. Monroe senior center is extremely small, drowning in a sea of malaise, old computer equipment, very old telephone lines that are over 25 years old!! Move them to a new building! We favor the latter. They still use a fax machine!! How gross!!!! (Written on Sept 3, 2010) ...read more