Fundraising cabaret for Cape Henlopen Senior Center a success

A sold-out crowd packed the Rehoboth Beach Convention Center for a cabaret Nov. 20, raising money to help facilitate the relocation of the Cape Henlopen Senior Center.

The event featured heavy hors d'oeuvres, a silent auction, a live auction and entertainment from Clear Space Theatre Company performers.

During his welcoming remarks, senior center Board President Gregory Murphy said the event had already raised well over $100,000.

In addition to the funds raised at the event, senior center Executive Director Linda Bonville announced the project had received a little more than $1 million from Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester in the form of a redevelopment grant.

Next year, the senior center celebrates its 60th anniversary, said Bonville. It would be great to celebrate by putting shovels in the ground and beginning to build the new facility, she said.

“We’re going to do it,” said Bonville, who will have been with the senior center for 47 years Thursday, Dec. 4.

The senior center was established in 1966, and has been at its current location since 1981. In the early 2000s, the senior center was given 6 acres of land on Hebron Road as part of an extension of that road. The lot sat essentially untouched for nearly two decades, but in late 2022, trees were removed, curb cuts were installed and other work was done.

Recent action on the senior center’s relocation was spurred by Clear Space’s need for a new home. For much of the past year, city officials have been working with the theater to come up with a plan that involves taking over the senior center site, which is owned by the city. Throughout the discussion, the city has said it won’t force the senior center to move. In October, Clear Space announced it has accepted the offer from the city to form a public-private partnership that paves the way for a new theater.