Plywood covers the hole that a vehicle made in the side of The Social of Greenwood and rubble from the building covers the ground next to the building on Tuesday.
Leeann Doerflein | Daily Journal
A Greenwood senior center will be closed this week after a car drove into the building over Memorial Day weekend.
Police were called to The Social, 550 Polk Street, around 8:07 p.m. Sunday on a report of a personal injury accident involving a vehicle driving into a building, according to a Greenwood Police Department. No one was inside the building at the time of the incident, and the driver involved is doing OK, said Andrea Sutherland, executive director of The Social.
“We’re first and foremost super grateful that they are (OK) and nothing horrible happened and they’re all safe,” Sutherland said.
The car did cause major damage to the east side of the building, however, leading officials to close The Social for the week as they assess structural issues caused by the accident. Insurance assessors are also expected to come out and ensure that side of the building is safe, she said.
A small gathering space that is commonly used for board games and puzzles is a total loss. A larger conference room, frequently used for seminars, board meetings and activities programs, was also significantly damaged, Sutherland said.
“That’s probably the one that’s going to hurt us the most for the time being because we’re going to have to move some programs around while that’s being fixed,” she said. “But luckily, we have our cafe, which is large enough to be able to distribute those throughout the rest of the building as soon as we can get everything cleaned up and it’s safe for the members to come back in.”
For now, it is unclear how long The Social will be closed.
“We’re just kind of taking it day-by-day until we can get (crews) out there and make sure that we can open up in a safe manner to get the seniors back in and enjoying all of their programs and services,” she said.
Because The Social is closed this week, all of their planned programming for the week has also been canceled. This includes their Rock Steady boxing program, which is a workout program for people with Parkinson’s Disease, she said.
“That’s a little difficult to not have that for them this week. But we can’t risk it, safety-wise, for that,” Sutherland said.
While programming for the week is canceled, The Social’s food pantry is open for business as usual on Tuesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. That’s because it is located on the other end of the building and they are able to operate it safely, Sutherland said.
The nonprofit will also continue with its plans to sell Purse Bingo tickets on Saturday, and is expected to give an update about ticket sale logistics later this week, a Facebook post from the nonprofit says.
Sutherland and other staff are hopeful that insurance will help them take care of the damage and repairs. But The Social being closed will set them back financially as they aren’t able to get money from their programs, she said.
“Honestly, with this, it does come at a loss of money for us,” Sutherland said.
Those interested in supporting The Social’s mission and making a monetary donation can do so by visiting their website, thesocialofgreenwood.org. Future updates on The Social can also be found by going online to their Facebook page at facebook.com/TheSocialofGreenwood.
“Thankfully, we have a great group of people and volunteers that are really coming together to help us get it back open as soon as soon as we can,” Sutherland said.
