Volunteer of the Month
Archives
July 2019
Charles Roberts
This month we’d like to give thanks to a familiar face, but one you might not know of in relation to the Highland Senior Center. Charles Roberts is the former editor of the Highland Community News, where he was a big supporter of the Highland Senior Center and would often visit the center to cover our events and activities. However when he retired at the end of 2017, he continued to support our center, but in a different capacity. Before retiring, he asked Jeff, the Outreach Director if we could use some volunteers, as he did not want to become bored. Well, he asked the right person, as he was immediately made a Transportation Assistance Program (TAP) driver. He volunteers to drive just about every weekday, and sometimes on weekends as well. Yet his helping us out doesn’t stop there. He also helps out in our Food Program, three days a weeks. He sorts outs the food we bring in and then helps us to pass it out to our seniors. We would also like to thank his wife, Myrna, who gives him time off from his retirement Honey Do list to help us out.
Featured Class
Brain Fitness
Date: January 16, 2019
Time: 1:00 - 3:00 pm
Length: 8 Weeks
Cost: $8 members
$8 non-members
Instructor: Member Based Instruction
Location: Sun Room
Description: Quite sure we could all use a little better Brain Fitness. Your brain may not be a muscle but you need to keep it active to keep it healthy. Some of our members take advantage of our university classes, but learning is only a part of exercising your brain. To help you out we offer this Brain Fitness class. The class promotes brain health through fitness, nutrition, cognitive exercises and activities to boost memory skills and stimulate the brain. Adults are living longer and longer, and we need to promote mental as well as physical health. The group does crosswords, puzzles, trivia, and encourages active discussion. Everything is designed to get those synapses firing. The class is taught by various students, who take turns coming up with lesson plans. That in itself is a brain fitness activity! If you want to sharpen your skills and learn new things this group is for you . The group meets on Wednesdays at 1:00 p.m. in the game room and is always full, so make a mental note to show up at registration to ensure your spot. If you forget to register, you really need to get fit!
Featured Activity
Bunco
Time: Fridays 1:00 pm
Cost: $3 Buy-In members
non-members
Location: Sun Room
Description: If you're ever here at the Center on a Friday, don't be surprised if you here a bunch of noise coming from the Parlor. Especially if it's yelling, laughing, and bell ringing! It's all just a part of the social game of Bunco. Strictly speaking, bunco is a game of dice, played in rounds. Players take turns rolling the dice and trying to accumulate as many points as possible to win each round. The game is played at tables of four in competing teams of two. Players score points by rolling three dice and trying to match the number they're supposed to roll for that round. They get a point for each die that rolls the number, and if all three roll the number they score 21 points. They also score 5 points for rolling three of a kind of any other number. They get to keep rolling as long as they score one or more points with each roll. Once they fail to score they pass the dice to their left and the opposing team gets a chance to score. During each round the teams at the Head Table try to score 21 points. The first team to score 21 points wins the round and play stops. At all other tables play stops when the Head Table play stops and the team with the highest score at each lower table wins the round. At the end of the round players change seats, the winners at each of the lower tables move up a table, and the losers at the head table move to the lowest table. Players also switch partners at the end of the round, so you never play with the same partner twice in a row. During play, players track the number of rounds they win and lose as a team, and the number of Buncos scored individually, on their personal scorecard. At the end of the night wins/losses and Buncos are tallied. So if having fun sounds fun to you, join the bunco crew every Friday in the Sun Room from 1:00 to 3:00.
St_ Patricks Day Party 2013
By: Mike Sylva
Once again it was that time of year when every one claims a bit o’ Irish heritage, as we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day. St. Patrick, the priest who drove the snakes from Ireland, among other things, so we celebrate by drinking green beer, pinching those who aren’t wearing green, and eat corned beef!
Here at the Center we celebrate with in a slightly different, but just as fun, way. We actually did it a few days ahead as it fell on a Sunday this year. That just meant the party could last for three days! As people showed up in their finest greenery, Claudia Wrona got people in the mood through great Irish jigs as well as some non-Irish tunes, but no one seemed to mind. As people arrived they reached into a crock to pick out a shamrock. Minnie Gray had the luck of the Irish about her as she won the 50/50 contest.
There was also a trivia contest, where contests tried their best (and some their worst) to answer questions about Ireland and St. Patrick’s Day. Not everyone knew the answers, but at the end of the contest, they walked away a little smarter.
However, if there were one memory that was going to stick out in people’s minds it is going to be the food. The father/daughter team of Jim Imbriorski and Martha McGrew spent two days preparing and cooking corned beef, cabbage, carrots, onions, and potatoes for the feast.
Thanks to Don Davis and Aetna for sponsoring the event, as well as volunteers, Linda Brian, Marge Booth, Joan Brieten, Virginia Kautzman, Sally Gomez, Brenda Adams, and Helen, Bridgewater, as well as everyone who came out to help us make it such a fun-filled event.
