People talk outside the Bernardston Senior Center during an open house on May 31. The Bernardston Senior Center was named an honorable mention in the National Association of Senior Centers' Excellence in Programs awards for a diverse marketing campaign that led to a significant increase in membership.
Staff photo/Paul Franz
BERNARDSTON — The Bernardston Senior Center was named an honorable mention in the National Association of Senior Centers' Excellence in Programs awards for a diverse marketing campaign that led to a significant increase in membership.
Senior Center Director Jennifer Reynolds said the partnership with NNE Digital involved strategies like retargeting (repeatedly showing information from one advertiser to an individual to increase the likelihood of them making an impression) and geofencing to target individuals within a specific geographic location, and was funded through a grant from the Massachusetts Council on Aging and the Office of Aging Affairs.
“Since that grant period, membership has increased by 30%. [in six months] “And we've just continued to grow from there,” Reynolds explained in an interview. “When I got here two and a half years ago, we only had about 200 members. Now we're up to almost 800 members.”
According to an award announcement from the National Council on Aging, the campaign enabled the Bernardston Senior Center to recruit more seniors, facilitate day-long conferences about offerings and expand programming for the LGBTQ and Hispanic communities.
“We are proud to be recognized with this award and celebrate the clients we serve and all of our amazing staff who work every day,” Reynolds said in announcing the award. “Seniors need more than just a place to spend time, which is why we offer a variety of resources and activities, including exercise, a daily lunch program, games, transportation, quilting and many other classes.”
Reynolds recently traveled to Washington, D.C., to accept the award.
“This was a competitive award, and it was nationwide, so for a small town like Bernardston to win this award was really a great honor for the state of Massachusetts,” she said in an interview.
The Outstanding Program Awards are judged by a panel of judges comprised of industry peers and affiliated members of the National Association of Senior Centers. The competition is divided into seven categories: Marketing/Public Relations, Social Support Services, Health and Wellness, Intergenerational Communication, Nutrition, Technology, Virtual and Hybrid Programming and Senior Center Modernization. There were seven winners in total, with nine organizations receiving honorable mentions.
Disclaimer: NNE Digital is owned by Newspapers of New England, the parent company of the Greenfield Recorder.
