WHEREAS, As the elderly population of the City of Warwick continues to grow with each passing year, the need for expanded senior services grows exponentially; and

WHEREAS, Senior centers provide concerned care providers with the opportunity to work outside of the home, to spend needed quality time with their impressionable young children, to devote more of their energies to church and other civic activities, and to participate in many additional pursuits that would be impossible were it not for the devoted and compassionate people at the centers looking after their loved ones; and

WHEREAS, Surrounded by friends who share similar backgrounds and interests, seniors very often look forward to the time that they spend in the centers. Provided with interesting and fulfilling activities geared to their special needs, the centers very closely resemble social centers for our elderly citizens; and

WHEREAS, Saturdays are tremendously important to care providers who work outside of the home. Needing this time away from work to deal with personal matters, or simply to spend time with other busy family members, the fact that Warwick senior centers are closed on Saturdays constitutes a great hardship on these loving, concerned people; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations hereby respectfully requests that the Mayor of the City of Warwick do all that lies within his power to open all of the city's senior centers on Saturdays; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and he hereby is authorized and directed to transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to Warwick Mayor Lincoln D. Chaffee.