Augusta Free Press and the Valley Program for Aging Services are teaming up to take you Inside the Waynesboro Senior Center.
The Inside the Waynesboro Senior Center video series launched on Monday with a web video featuring interviews with staff, volunteers and Senior Center members.
Over the course of the next few weeks, the people who make the Senior Center what it is will tell you what goes on at the Center every day, and why it is so important to them in their daily lives.
“Right now we have tai chi going on in one room, we have cards going on in here. A lot of people having good conversations, lively conversations. It’s a fun place to be,” Senior Center Director Karen Hurt said.
Program Director Brandy Wade, who has been on staff at the Senior Center since 2008, has taken to calling the Center “a school for more mature adults.”
“Everyone that’s over 60 needs to come out and be a part of the Senior Center. We just stay active, and we live well. It’s a wonderful, fun and exciting place to come visit,” Wade said.
Senior Center member Joyce Henderson said her decision to become a member “has really made my life.”
“They love you here. They do things with you. They take you places. It’s just remarkable,” Henderson said.
For member Leah Rizzo, it’s about meeting new people.
“I just like coming,” Rizzo said. “I enjoy people. I’m kind of an introvert. I don’t mind looking at four walls. But I enjoy meeting new people. And if they like talking to me, I like talking to them.”
Butch Kidd said the Center is “remarkable” because it keeps him active.
“It gives me something to live for and something to do every day. And the people here are just wonderful. You couldn’t ask for a better bunch of friends that you could communicate with and have fellowship with. It’s really changed my life,” Kidd said.
Arlene Gentry said if she wasn’t at the Center every day, “I’d be sitting at home. I’d probably be depressed.”
“I probably wouldn’t get up and move or anything. And that would affect my health. This is like a life preserver that they throw out to you and bring you in,” Gentry said.
Larry Ransome, a member for nine years now, and a representative on the Senior Center’s Local Council, said it is a “blessing to have this place for people to come to.”
“I tell people down at Springdale, Why don’t you come down to the Senior Center? You’re sitting here doing nothing. Come to the Center, you can do something. You can talk with other people, you can shoot pool, or whatever,” Ransome said.
Volunteer Pat Gray said “if you’re home alone and have nothing to do, if you’re 60 and over, just come on down to the Waynesboro Senior Center, and we’ll be glad to have you.”
“We have lunch every day. We offer trips back and forth to home and to here. We’re very capable of helping you out, and keep you from being lonely. They keep me from being lonely, and I’m married,” Gray said.
Hurt closed the first video in the series urging people who are interested in the Center “to come and try it out for a day or two and see if they like it, see if they meet friends that they didn’t expect to see.”
“That happens a lot of times. Somebody will say, Oh, I know you from when we worked together back in the day, or, We were in high school together. We have a lot of people who have reconnected with high school friends. We have a lot to do. So it’s fun,” Hurt said.
Learn more about the Center online at www.WaynesboroSeniorCenter.org.
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