At Cozy Corner, DeKalb seniors gather for fun, relaxation

DeKALB – A new community space designed to provide local seniors with a cozy and welcoming environment to relax and connect opened this month with the help of Elder Care Services of DeKalb County.

Dubbed Cozy Corner, the space has its home in the agency’s building at 1701 E. Lincoln Highway, DeKalb. It’s also where Elder Care Services staff members can share information about their offerings to anyone who walks in seeking a hangout space.

John Rey, president of the Elder Care Services board of directors, said he’s excited for Cozy Corner because it will allow older members of the community to interact with their peers.

“The Cozy Corner really is more for socialization, having our clients come in and have a comfortable place to socialize with other older adults,” Rey said. “It avoids the isolation if they can come and just have socialization with other adults. It really is a comfortable setting.”

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Tara Russo, executive director of Elder Care Services, cuts the ribbon Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024, with other members of the staff and attendees at Elder Care Services’ new Cozy Corner in their facility at 1701 East Lincoln Highway in DeKalb. Cozy Corner offers seniors a community space for socializing, learning and activities. (Mark Busch)

Cozy Corner is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday.

On Nov. 20, Elder Care Services unveiled Cozy Corner to its clients and stakeholders with a ribbon-cutting ceremony alongside the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce.

Elder Care Services Executive Director Tara Russo said the opening of Cozy Corner fulfills a dream that she’s had since Elder Care Services bought its current building a decade ago. Russo was a caseworker for the organization when she was in college in 1995.

“Since 2014, we’ve been trying to just plan out filling this entire building for senior-related types of things for the community,” Russo said, “a senior hub, so to speak – a one-stop shop for seniors. And so, I think we’ve gotten to that point.”

Inside Cozy Corner, which is most of the way down the freshly paved parking lot that wraps around the Elder Care Services building, are numerous chairs, board games, a TV, informational pamphlets and photos from days gone by.

Russo said she used her mother, Gloria Milyanovich, as fresh eyes for the private soft opening, and asked how she could get her and her aunt into the space.

One of the things Milyanovich pointed out was how puzzles with especially small pieces can become more difficult at older ages.

“I do puzzles at home, and I said, ‘Seniors are not going to be able to do the little tiny pieces,’” Milyanovich said. “So she got rid of that, and these are a little bigger, so they’re better.”

Russo thinks her mother gave good feedback partly because she knows that if her mom and aunt enjoy the space, then she thinks Cozy Corner will be liked by her target demographic.

“If I can get them to come here more often too, I think it’s good for their socialization to get them out of the house,” Russo said.

The executive director said she doesn’t want the space to be viewed as a “typical senior center,” and suggested that anyone can come and enjoy the space, regardless of age.

She’s even considering getting an Xbox.

“I had another young senior, he’s like, ‘You might want to get an Xbox, a lot of the younger seniors coming in, they game,’” Russo said. “And I’m like, ‘That’s a really good point.’ I do know people my age and in their 60s – I’m mid-50s – who game. So I’m like, ‘Absolutely, let’s get an Xbox in here.’ That would be cool.”

The space is free to access. Russo said she looks at the space as something Elder Care Services can give back to the community that supported the agency in its infancy.

“The city of DeKalb has been so good to ECS since back in the ′80s, all the way up until we moved here,” Russo said. “This is kind of our thank you back to the city of DeKalb for supporting us for so long.”