By Lynne Hendricks
AMESBURY — One week into her job as Amesbury's new Council on Aging director, Annmary Connor is ready to implement a host of new programs for the town's senior population.
Whether it be overseeing an afternoon intergenerational Wii competition between area seniors and tweens from Amesbury Middle School or implementing a recently authorized tax subsidy program that helps seniors work off their property tax bill, Connor is embracing her new job at the Senior Center with a fervor that Mayor Thatcher Kezer said factored heavily into his decision to match Connor to the lead COA position.
"What I saw from her was a bundle of energy and a bundle of fresh ideas," said Kezer of his newest hire, who served as a volunteer member of the Council on Aging Board of Directors before throwing her hat in the ring for the COA director post. "She's coming from the private sector, but she also has been on the COA for a year now, so she's coming in with some knowledge about the particular programs in Amesbury.
With a master's degree in social work from New Mexico State University, Connor has spent the past 10 years of her life working in long-term care facilities, including Abbott House in Lynn and Maplewood in Amesbury, where she fell in love with Amesbury's downtown and tight-knit community and decided to relocate before taking on a new job at Abbott House.
After settling here and deciding to raise her two children in town, the Swampscott native became involved with Amesbury's Council on Aging in order to offer advice and counsel to the organization when it came to senior activity and policy planning.
And soon after, the COA director position became available. As someone who has devoted her life to helping enrich the lives of seniors, Connor immediately threw her hat in the ring for the position she felt uniquely suited for.
"I'm very excited and thrilled to be here," said Connor yesterday. "The seniors are wonderful, and I want to do as much as I can for them. They deserve it."
Connor said a belief in family values and a belief that we're all enriched by being exposed to people who have experienced much in life and have lessons to teach are what drove her to a career working with an older crowd.
"Elders need to be respected," Connor said. "They need to be cherished. They need to be helped when they need help, and I also think in this modern day, a lot of seniors have families who are far away. The senior center is a great place for them to come and get the sense of community they need."
It's Connor's belief in the intergenerational experience that will no doubt help fuel a new program at the senior center that brings tweens from the middle school and area seniors together for Tuesday afternoon Nintendo Wii competitions.
"Kids invigorate us — they keep us going," said Connor of the raucous showdowns that are taking over the normally quiet center each week, with children cheering for their new senior friends and the seniors learning a thing or two from the next generation of youngsters.
But the Wii program isn't the only program that Connor wants to take action on in her first weeks as COA director.
"I have a lot of ideas," Connor said. "We're definitely going to expand on the programming, and I'm looking forward to doing that in January. We're going to start doing twice-a-month outings where we leave from the Senior Center and do lunch and shopping. We're going to be doing Super Bowl Sunday Party here and a lot of intergenerational programming."
Connor said she's going to be making an announcement in the coming weeks about a new program being implemented to help seniors work off some of their property tax bills by volunteering for a job at Town Hall.
"That's the first thing I'm really pushing," Connor said. "I hope to have that up and running by Jan. 1, because there's money allocated, and I want to get that into place for the seniors."
The town will first identify different departments in need of help, Connor said. Then armed with a list of potential volunteer job openings, Connor will have seniors fill out applications, and she will try to match them up according to their skill set and area of interest.
"Then they'll go and meet with that department to see if it's a good fit," said Connor, who said seniors can work off as much as $750 of their tax bill. "We're allocated $3,750 for the year."
As Connor hammers out the details of that program, she's seeking input from other communities on how their programs are run.
"In other towns, they're very popular, and I think it's going to be a great asset here in Amesbury and a great way for seniors to get that tax break," Connor said.
Connor wants to extend an invitation for area seniors to drop into the center and say hello, and she's looking forward to meeting many more clients at the COA Christmas party coming up on Dec. 10 at Holy Family Parish Hall. In the meantime, Connor will be doing what she loves best — browsing the downtown shops with her two children, aged 3 and 7.
"I love it," she said of living in town and stopping in to visit the downtown merchants "It's a great community with the nicest people. People know you, and they know your kids, and you run into people everywhere you go."
