WESTBROOK – Ethel Blake found the Lakes Region Senior Center around the time her husband died.

“I met these people when my husband was sick. I stopped in one day and they treated me just like a long lost friend. We help each other in times of need,” Blake said of the 70 seniors who are active members of the group.

“When Ethel’s husband passed, she had a place to go, she had us. Part of the mission here is that everyone is welcome,” said Avis Fleck, a member of the board.

On Monday, from 9 a.m.-3 p.m., the Lakes Region Senior Center will hold a grand opening “Welcome Day” at its new location, the Sunset Ridge Golf Links clubhouse, on River Road in Westbrook. The senior center moved after its previous location in the former Little Falls School in Gorham closed for renovations.

“This is the only place around for senior citizens to gather, other than going to a restaurant. We come here to chat and solve all the worlds problems,” said Clarence Wisecup, a Windham resident and longtime attendee of the senior center.

President Blanche Alexander and her husband, David, are part of a group of senior citizens in the Lakes Region, including Westbrook, Gorham, Windham and Standish, who found a sense of community and friendship within their senior group.

Alexander said the golf course clubhouse offers seniors a place to go during the week, except for Thursdays and half off play on the mini-golf course, free use of the gazebo and shuffleboard areas.

For $20 year membership, anyone over the age of 50 can drop in anytime to the center, which now consists of a big room with a few tables and a small snack bar that serves coffee and sandwiches, between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. to talk, read the newspaper, play a game of cards, work on a jigsaw puzzle, read, or bring a craft of their choosing.

There are scheduled activities, as well, like card playing on Tuesdays starting at 10 a.m. and bingo on Thursdays. The seniors also plan road trips, host monthly luncheons and do a variety of activities to keep their minds and bodies active.

Gorham Recreation Department was also using the Little Falls School, but a $500,000 project to repair the building forced the group out.

“This place has really been a godsend. There’s a little trouble with the access but everyone likes it,” Alexander said. “We are hoping to move back to Little Falls after the repairs are done.”

The future of the school and the seniors’ space there remains clouded. Alexander said she’s not sure there will be space for them in the property when the repairs are done this spring.

“This is the best alternative that we saw. Let’s put it this way, there’s not a lot out there, especially with what we could afford in our budget. It’s bright and no one who has come here seems discouraged,” Wisecup said on the new location.