Senior Fitness and Wellness Program.
That was the name of the age-friendly grant project undertaken by the Borough of Bound Brook, and yes, one goal was to promote fitness, and another to promote wellness.
But underlying both of those goals was a loftier mission, more of a wish really – that the series of exercise classes and cultural outings underwritten by these grant funds would foster meaningful connections among older residents with limited social outlets.
Emma Lamperti, program director for the Bound Brook Recreation Department, knew the project was succeeding after she had a conversation with 73-year-old Cheryl on a bus trip to a Farmer’s Market in the Spring of 2026.
Cheryl had resisted signing up for the grant-funded project’s first offering in fall 2025, a chair yoga class, telling Lamperti, “Well, I don’t know if it’s for me, but I want to support what you are doing so I signed up.”
Cheryl proceeded to sign for other classes that followed – Floor/Mat Yoga, Tai Chi, Zumba Gold – as well as several bus trip outings organized by the Recreation Department as it tries to ramp up senior programming in this Somerset County town of 12,000, 2,600 of whom are now over the age of 55.
The new programs have reached between 150 and 200 older residents. Despite the decent turnout numbers, Lamperti wasn’t sure of the success until Cheryl told her about her new friend, Maureen, whom she first met at Chair Yoga despite having been neighbors for years.
“She told me that her goal for 2026 was to make one new friend, because it is so hard to do at her age,” Lamperti said. “Because of our programs she had met Maureen, someone who lived on her block that she had never met before. They had started to get lunch, go to each other’s house, talk for hours on the phone, all because they signed up to do Chair Yoga at The Rec!”
The borough intends to keep offering its new senior-focused programs beyond the grant period.
“The grant allowed us to run these programs at a very low cost to participants, regardless of the number of participants signed up,” said Lamperti, although moving forward, all programs will need to meet minimum registration numbers to make it cost-effective for the residents and the borough.
Prior to the grant, Bound Brook’s recreation department lacked fitness and social programs specifically for seniors in this community located along the Raritan River. The only alternatives were a local senior club that meets monthly or the Somerset County Senior Center located in Bridgewater, about 5 minutes away.
Most of the new programs were held in the borough’s recreation center, although some health and wellness programs were held at a local church in partnership with the Bound Brook Senior Club and Somerset County Department of Health. The borough launched a new Facebook page to communicate about the new offerings.
The new programs and partnerships are the early actions that local leaders hope will soon put the borough on the path to forming a full-fledged age-friendly initiative
“We are still in the early stages,” Lamperti said. “The Recreation Department hopes to work with the governing body over the coming years to form an Age Friendly Initiative. I see our efforts over the past year to develop age friendly programming as taking the first steps to achieve this.”
“I am so grateful that Bound Brook was given the opportunity to develop new age friendly programming for our senior population, who until now had been underserved in our community,” she added.
“I look forward to continuing our age friendly programing and developing more community connections for years to come!”