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Date: 6/13/2023
HADLEY — The Senior Center and the Council on Aging are setting the table for their summer programs, many involving food and meal related events.
Program Coordinator Violet Suska said while attendance falls slightly during the warmer months, there is no shortage of programs and activities to keep seniors engaged and informed while keeping cool at the same time.
A well-received program, “Coffee with a Cop” will continue every third Thursday during the summer months. The meet and greet is a huge success, Suska said.
“This a generation I think that still cares very much about community and safety and they just like to feel connected with our service agencies like the Fire Department and the Police Department,” she said. “We do have throughout the year many activities that we collaborate on with the Fire Department, with the Police Department and they are always popular,” she added.
Several food events will be available like the “Men’s Breakfast” and “The Lunchbox”, which offers homemade meals cooked by volunteers.
An ice cream tasting contest is set for July 11 where Cook Farm brings five new flavors to blindfolded contestants who compete to identify them to win prizes.
Cooking classes will continue for those who like to prepare their own fare as will movie nights, musical performances and community discussions.
Suska said the programs will run through July and August as will several happenings like massages and movement classes that are good for overall well being. Dementia awareness and training for those impacted as well as their caregivers will be offered to members of the community in July.
The largest challenge sometimes, Suska said, is actually getting the word out about the goings on at the center. The issue, those members of the community who are tech savvy as opposed to those who are not.
“We try in different ways to reach out, we have an e-letter that we send out weekly with updates on activities and reminders on Facebook. But those modes are only for those people who are involved with technology and are savvy enough to use those modes,” she said. “But there is another group of our participants who don’t really catch with the technology so they rely more on our newsletter or we approach them one-on-one or friends tell them and it’s more word of mouth,” Suska added.
She said Hadley Media is also a good source of information for the seniors, unless of course they are not cable subscribers.
In response to some of those types of challenges, the center has answered the call by providing instructional classes on technology, specifically smartphone use. Those classes were offered in the spring and proved to be very popular, Suska said.
“We had so many people on the waiting list that we’re going to repeat them in the summer,” she said.
The center will offer more updates and information as the summer progresses.
More information can be found at https://www.hadleyma.org/council-aging.