Senior Centers

officerripley

officerripley

Well-known Member
Location
Porlock, Calif
We, to my knowledge, have never had a Senior Center in our town, just a chapter of the national Area on Aging outfit, which wasn't really much of a place to help seniors with social connections, more of a place to help with rides to doctor's appointment, getting you set up with delivered meals, etc. (They only ever had a couple of paid employees and some volunteers.) Smaller towns around us did have more for seniors; I always figured it was because this is a college town. Then of course, once the Covid hit, just about everything shut down; but it appears that the seniors stuff is never going to be resurrected. I checked the other towns and even the state capitol (which had a lot of seniors' stuff) this morning and most of the stuff, when you click on the website link, you get "404, Page Not Found" (even places that said they've been in existence for years, 49 years for one place). It's always seemed to be in this town: "Oh, you want social connections? Either be a college student or go to church." And now the one church in this town that did have outreach for seniors has cancelled that, permanently I gather.

Anyone noticed the same thing where they live?
 

The county that I alive in has various programs in the small towns but no dedicated senior center.

Many of them are one day per week or month but they help people to connect.

The events are usually held in church halls, volunteer fire houses and village libraries.

Many of the programs have to do with senior health or nutrition with a little socializing mixed in.

Try doing a few searches in your area for groups on https://www.meetup.com/

If nothing is readily available start looking at the free events in and around your community. Most college towns have a variety of free or low cost events.

Check with your local county commission on aging or it’s equivalent in your area.

Give your local churches another look to see what they offer beyond the Sunday sermon. You may find things like book clubs, fund raising suppers, community projects that could help to expand your circle of friends.

If all else fails try to get out and go for a walk everyday or head to the local coffee shop and become a regular.

The important thing is not to give up.
 
officerripley said:
We, to my knowledge, have never had a Senior Center in our town, just a chapter of the national Area on Aging outfit, which wasn't really much of a place to help seniors with social connections, more of a place to help with rides to doctor's appointment, getting you set up with delivered meals, etc. (They only ever had a couple of paid employees and some volunteers.) Smaller towns around us did have more for seniors; I always figured it was because this is a college town. Then of course, once the Covid hit, just about everything shut down; but it appears that the seniors stuff is never going to be resurrected. I checked the other towns and even the state capitol (which had a lot of seniors' stuff) this morning and most of the stuff, when you click on the website link, you get "404, Page Not Found" (even places that said they've been in existence for years, 49 years for one place). It's always seemed to be in this town: "Oh, you want social connections? Either be a college student or go to church." And now the one church in this town that did have outreach for seniors has cancelled that, permanently I gather.

Anyone noticed the same thing where they live?
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We have eight senior centers that I know of within forty-five minutes of where I live in Central Florida. Of course, COVID has really impacted their programs. You could call your county or state Department of Aging (or whatever it's called in CA) and ask them.
 

I used to go a senior center near me. It's was government program. They served a meal, and then, of course, bingo. They had to comply with governmental regulations, so it was somewhat rigid. If you didn't notify them two days in advance that you weren't coming, it was a big deal. They has to account for every meal served, or not served. If they had wasted meals they could loose their government funding. I was 55 when I became disabled. And the disabled didn't need to be 65+ to attend, only 55+. Most of the people, who went were widows in their 70s, 80s. When I walked into the center , all the eye were on me. It's the only time in my life when I felt like a stud. I stopped going because I really didn't need a meal, and bingo got old.
 
Well, so far, it sounds varied as to where there are plenty of senior services and where there are not. I wonder if it's something to do with how hard Covid has hit an area? And other factors too, of course; for instance, our area was hit really hard by the 2018 Camp Fire, including real estate prices shooting sky high and jobs disappearing (since both homes and the buildings some businesses were in burned up), etc.
 
officerripley said:
Well, so far, it sounds varied as to where there are plenty of senior services and where there are not. I wonder if it's something to do with how hard Covid has hit an area? And other factors too, of course; for instance, our area was hit really hard by the 2018 Camp Fire, including real estate prices shooting sky high and jobs disappearing (since both homes and the buildings some businesses were in burned up), etc.
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The former would mean that they're temporarily closed, not that they don't exist. Ours were closed for quite a while and they're now open for limited programs.
 
In my area everything is back to normal. There are senior centers in a number of areas around this county. The office of the aging is making appointments in our homes as usual and meals are being delivered and lunch time meals are back in the senior centers.
 
Dancing_Queen said:
The former would mean that they're temporarily closed, not that they don't exist. Ours were closed for quite a while and they're now open for limited programs.
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The fact that their websites don't even exist anymore (just get a blank page with "404, Page Not Found") makes me think that they're permanently closed. :unsure:
 
officerripley said:
We, to my knowledge, have never had a Senior Center in our town, just a chapter of the national Area on Aging outfit, which wasn't really much of a place to help seniors with social connections, more of a place to help with rides to doctor's appointment, getting you set up with delivered meals, etc. (They only ever had a couple of paid employees and some volunteers.) Smaller towns around us did have more for seniors; I always figured it was because this is a college town. Then of course, once the Covid hit, just about everything shut down; but it appears that the seniors stuff is never going to be resurrected. I checked the other towns and even the state capitol (which had a lot of seniors' stuff) this morning and most of the stuff, when you click on the website link, you get "404, Page Not Found" (even places that said they've been in existence for years, 49 years for one place). It's always seemed to be in this town: "Oh, you want social connections? Either be a college student or go to church." And now the one church in this town that did have outreach for seniors has cancelled that, permanently I gather.

Anyone noticed the same thing where they live?
Click to expand...
We went to the library to ask about programs. Everything is online. We went to church (Yes that is actually is in person with masks) but all of their social events are online. If I wanted to watch something on the computer, there's lots of stuff on YouTube. I was hoping for a bit of human contact, but COVID seems to have robbed us of that.

I'm not complaining. I know that the governments are trying to stop the spread of the disease, particularly in seniors. Still, it is a lonely time to be entering seniorhood.
 

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