Senior Friendship Centers, Inc.

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BROTHER WILLIAM GEENEN, CSC, Founder of Senior Friendship Centers, Inc., came to Senior Friendship Centers more than 30 years ago, when he came to Sarasota to visit a friend in 1973. He discovered a great need for a place for older adults to come together to escape loneliness and isolation returned to Sarasota shortly thereafter to work with the elderly. On opening day, more than 500 people arrived, ready and eager to help make it happen. Shortly thereafter Senior Friendship Centers, Inc. was founded The name Senior Friendship Centers is plural because Brother Geenen envisioned not one Senior Friendship Center, but a network of Centers serving older adults throughout southwest Florida.

Himself a Catholic Brother of the Holy Cross, Brother Geenen was instrumental in bringing people of all backgrounds and walks of life together to find solutions to the challenges of aging. Senior Friendship Centers is a private, non-profit corporation, serving older adults without regard to religion, race, sex, or national origin.

Senior Friendship Centers began in this small house, with little more than a card table and $79 in a checking account. Today, thanks to the work of a lot of good people, it has beautiful campuses in Sarasota and Venice, and services in five counties in Southwest Florida. A Capital campaign for a new campus in Fort Myers is currently underway.

The CSC following Brother Geenen’s name is Latin for “Congregato a Santa Cruz.” the Latin title for his congregation. He is a Brother of the Holy Cross. "Brother" is a title used men who are religious (they belong to a religious order or institute) but who are not priests. Priesthood and religious life are different vocations. The Brothers of Holy Cross are affiliated with the University of Notre Dame.

Brother Geenen was elected Provincial (head) of the Midwest Province of the Brothers of Holy Cross in 1994, taking a six year leave from Senior Friendship Centers to supervise the community life and apostolates of more than 220 religious brothers under his care. He helped to establish the Holy Cross Village at Notre Dame, an intergenerational community comprised of brothers and laity sharing mutual interests and the common mission of being of service to one another and to others. After serving his term, he returned to Sarasota, and Senior Friendship Centers.