By Ed Karvoski Jr., Contributing Writer
Shrewsbury – After taking a summer break, the Shrewsbury Friends Men’s Club has resumed its weekly meetings Thursdays from 9 to 11 a.m. at the Shrewsbury Senior Center. The club has been offering a meeting place for a few decades. Meetings were originally conducted in a building on Route 9 that formerly housed the Shrewsbury American Legion.
Joe Montecalvo has served as the club president since the late 1990s.
“It started with about 10 people getting together to talk about old times, and it just grew from there,” he said. “Actually, it really has grown.”
Now, there are 105 members. The average weekly meeting attendance is about 70 to 80.
Montecalvo was introduced to the club while working as vice principal of Shrewsbury High School.
“I used to go to meetings whenever I had a chance and they invited me to talk a few times,” he said. “They would ask me about the high school and what was happening in the school department.”
The club found a new meeting place in 2000 when the Shrewsbury Senior Center opened its current over 11,000-square-foot facility at 98 Maple Ave., for which Montecalvo expressed his gratitude.
“It’s nice of the senior center to allow us to meet there,” he said. “They have a beautiful building and they’re very nice to us. Some of the fellows stay after the meeting and have lunch there, too.”
In addition to lunch at the center’s Village Café, some club members also make use of the pool table, bocce court and other activities.
A guest speaker is featured at the club’s weekly meetings, which resumed Sept. 10 with Ashley Boudreau, the senior care programs account executive of NaviCare. On Sept. 17, they welcomed Melanie Magee of the Shrewsbury Trails Committee. Speakers have been selected and scheduled by a committee for upcoming meetings through the week before Thanksgiving.
“The committee does a great job getting a variety of speakers,” Montecalvo said.
Upcoming scheduled speakers are: Sept. 24, state Sen. Michael Moore, D-Millbury; Oct. 1, Town Manager Dan Morgado; Oct. 8, state Rep. Hannah Kane, R-Shrewsbury; Oct. 15, Dr. John P. Collins, veteran and author of “A Korean War Memoir”; Oct 22, Ryan Maloney, owner of Julio’s Liquors and WCRN 830 AM radio talk-show host; Oct. 29, Adam Curtis, office manager of Tasty Harvest Shrimp in West Boylston; Nov. 5, Robert Claflin, classic automobiles aficionado; Nov 12, Town Assessor Christopher Reidy; and Nov 19, Robert Tozeski, superintendent of the Shrewsbury Water & Sewer Departments.
The meetings are a chance to socialize while having coffee and donuts, Montecalvo noted.
“We’re retired and it’s a place to go on a Thursday morning to meet with some friends,” he said. “I grew up in Shrewsbury, so I know a lot of them. We sometimes bring in old pictures. I enjoy seeing and talking with everyone there.”
They occasionally take trips together to attractions such as Pawtucket Red Sox games, and museums and historical sites in Boston.
Newcomers typically learn about the club through word of mouth from current members. There’s a nominal, one-time membership fee of $5 to join, and $2 to cover coffee and donuts each Thursday. The club has contributed monetary donations to the Friends of the Shrewsbury Senior Center, Inc., and the center’s newsletter known as The Senior Edition.
Joining the Shrewsbury Friends Men’s Club is simple.
“Just show up on a Thursday morning,” Montecalvo said. “We ask at every meeting if there are any new members.”