“Best kept secret in town!”

How many times have I heard that since I started at People Plus in October?

“ I had no idea that you offered classes over there.”

“You have a teen center? I thought it was for really old people.”

“You help people who need a ride … for free?”

These are other phrases I hear repeatedly while talking about all of the classes, programs and volunteer opportunities that we run weekdays between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.

That is why I am on a mission to expose the truth about People Plus, The Center that Builds Community, in the Union Street School in Brunswick.

We are not actually a secret, you know. We have a good-sized building, generously refurbished by the town of Brunswick at the corner of Cumberland and Union streets, just one block off Maine Street.

We have a really informative website with a calendar of all our events created by Allen Tucker, a volunteer resident, which is painstakingly maintained by Ann Frey, a volunteer and board member.

We have a monthly newspaper put together by Frank Connors and Daryl Madore over at The Times Record and a monthly TV show that Frank and I record at the Harpswell Community Television station with program manager Donna Frisoli. “Frisoli also allowed us to tape a public service announcement for the Volunteer Drive Program and for this we are grateful.”

We have so many classes and programs set up by Jill Victor that I can barely keep track of them all. And there are about 800 residents of Brunswick, Topsham and Harpswell who proudly call themselves card- carrying People Plus members.

Yet, you still might hear people say they’ve never heard of People Plus and don’t know what goes on over there. If this happens to you, feel free to tell anyone that in addition to our programming, which includes physical fitness classes like chair yoga, regular yoga, tai chi, Loosen Up, Line Dancing, Qigong and table tennis, we also have a couple of new classes called “ Yoga for Mobility” and “ Pilates for Grown- ups” — taught by Ann and Dennis Kimmage, starting in January — along with Tai Chi Easy with Diane Doiron.

For those looking for what I call “cerebral” wellness, we have an ongoing writing group, bridge group and cribbage group, as well as Excel classes taught Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Former Gov. Angus King kicks off our monthly “Authors Chats” on Jan. 18 and “Game on!” starts Thursday afternoons with all sorts of free fun and games.

If that’s not enough, we have an “Intro to Facebook” session, a current events program called “This Week in Review” and a movie club starting in January as well.

On top of all of that, we have some really great youth programming happening at People Plus. Our Teen Center will re-open on Jan. 9 with both on- and off-site events, as well as a freshly washed and cleaned space.

Jordan Cardone, the center coordinator, is currently looking to partner with local businesses to sponsor the center and pave the way for additional after-school programming opportunities.

If you are interested in finding out more about our teens and what they do here or in sponsoring the Teen Center, please contact us at Jordan@peopleplusmaine.org.

We also need volunteers to be in the Teen Center between 2:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. weekdays to mentor and work with the kids. Sign up to be here daily, weekly or monthly.

Look for the new Teen Center sign to go up in early January. Thank you to Carrot Signs in Topsham, which donated the new signage.

Another thank you goes out to JHR Properties, which generously donated a piece of the original Noble Street foundation to People Plus, giving us a beautiful granite bench that now sits on the Union Street side of the building.

Installed for free last week by Lance Linkel, the owner of Cosmic Stone in Topsham, the bench weighs about 700 pounds and sits atop two triangular pieces of stone. Linkel thinks our bench comes from some of the local granite for which our area is so well known.

In anticipation of the secrets that might be shared on this bench by friends resting in the afternoon sun or children waiting for the school bus, we planted some bulbs around the bench that will bloom this spring.

During the next few months as these bulbs lay like a secret themselves waiting for the sun’s warmth to bring them forth, I hope that you will come explore all of the “secrets” of People Plus.

From the programming for both seniors and youth, to the Volunteer Drive Program, the Good Morning Call and the movie club, I hope that you will discover for yourself why People Plus is The Center the Builds Community.

STACEY FRIZZLE of Topsham is executive director of People Plus.