The plans for the City of Troy’s new nutrition center have been approved and ground will be broken in January. The excitement around the Lillian D. Green Nutrition Center is contagious.

“I have been excited just thinking about the new center for our seniors, but now that we have the plans, our participants are just as excited as I am,” said Hassie Green, Center director. “The new nutrition center is all that we had hoped for and more. We are so appreciative of everyone that has been a part of making a new nutrition center a reality for our seniors.”

The process actually started about two years ago when Green learned that grants were available for nutrition centers and that the South Central Alabama Development Commission Area Agency on Aging had a grant writer for such projects.

“We talked with the Area Agency on Aging in Montgomery and then to Mayor Jimmy Lunsford,” Green said. “Mayor Lunsford and the city council worked out the details for the grant match.”

Green said she and Jessica Cox and Nikki Jones, who assist her at the nutrition center, put their heads together to develop a plan that was tailor made for the needs of the center.

“My husband sketched out the plans for us, and the city council approved our ideas,” she said. “Of course, we had to have more professional plans to submit for the grant. Jones Godwin Architects in Montgomery has done exceptional work on the plans for what, I think, will be one of the nicest and most functional nutrition centers anywhere.”

The 4,295-square-foot nutrition center will be located in an area adjacent to the city’s new library that is under construction on East Walnut Street.

The nutrition center will feature a commons area, computer/table games room, exercise room, game room and kitchen.

“The commons area will seat 85-plus. It will have two booths with tables that are laminated with old photographs of Troy and a portable stage for program and performances,” Green said. “In the computer room, we’ll have game tables with the boards painted on the tables and the computers and WiFi. The exercise room will have treadmills and a stationary bike and, in the game room, we’ll have a pool table and other games. The kitchen and storage areas have been designed for our specific needs. The restrooms will have multiple accommodations.”

Additionally, the nutrition center will have a screened patio so the seniors can enjoy being outside while staying inside.

“We will have a covered area where participants can be dropped off or pickup during inclement weather,” Green said. “The entire facility will be handicapped accessible with electric doors at the entrance.”

Green said one of the goals of the new facility is to be a “coffee shop” for seniors in the community.

“We want our nutrition center to be a place where our seniors can come and feel right at home,” Green said. “This is their place and we hope it will become a home away from home.”