Lead-footed motorists in Midwood — a top neighborhood for local speeding — help kill more New Yorkers than drunk drivers and vehicle operators talking on cellphones combined, according to Transportation Alternatives, a road safety group that recorded 23,058 traffic injuries in Brooklyn in 2011, the city’s highest that year.
Congested Kings Highway, the area’s main thoroughfare, became such a problem for seniors at Millennium Development’s Midwood Active Adult and Neighborhood Center that they wrote a play about it called “Crossing Kings Highway,” a thought-provoking fairy tale set in the kingdom of Midwood, where drivers ignored speed limits and snail-paced elders were outcasts.
The production won a New York Public Library award and propelled Department of Transportation officials to extend pedestrian crossing times at local cross walks, and ask the group to take its show on the road to other senior centers to promote the city’s street safety campaign.
Credit the successes to program director Jacqueline Florio, who created the drama club seven years ago as an outlet for her grief after her husband and father died in the same month, and to offer a new activity for members whose amusements she takes seriously.
“My job is to provide enjoyable activities for the seniors, and a congenial and welcoming atmosphere,” says Florio, 50, a career elder advocate whom Millennium recruited 10 years ago to save the sluggish center from closure.
She powered its revival through partnerships with the city’s Department for the Aging, the Brooklyn Public Library, and the Brooklyn Arts Council, increasing membership and services by leaps and bounds. Florio introduced two daily meals, a daily exercise class, weekly yoga, informative health workshops, intergenerational visits with schools, and day trips across the tri-state area.
She introduced a new pursuit last summer after spotting a sign in Sheepshead Bay for charter boats. Tickets to the summer farewell cruise she arranged — complete with a deejay, raffles, food, and a sunset sail to Liberty Island — sold out within minutes.
“It was above and beyond my wildest dreams,” says the director, whose staff have turned her into a walking slogan with their turn of phrase — W.W.J.D.” or “What Would Jackie Do?”
Members are as impressed by the Woman of Distinction.
“Jackie is a beautiful lady who delivers soup to the home of sick members, and has never turned anyone away for lunch even if they can’t pay the 50 cents or dollar,” says retired nurse Letna Murden, 80. “She is our mother hen, and she makes sure that we are all comfortable and having a good time.”
Florio works around the clock for her family of seniors, arranging housing for a homeless member, determining if the frail widower needs an aide or an extra container of milk to take home, or accompanying ailing elders to the hospital and staying with them until they are settled in — however long it takes.
“You don’t want to leave them out there without any help,” she says. “But they are still on my mind when I go home.”
OCCUPATION: Program director.
COMPANY: Midwood Active Adult and Neighborhood Center.
CLAIM TO FAME: Being a compassionate person and doing the best I can.
FAVORITE PLACE: Home.
WOMAN I ADMIRE: Former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy because she personified elegance and intelligence.
MOTTO: Our differences can also be our strengths.
