Town of Shirley - Shirley, MA

COUNCIL ON AGINGIt was an exciting, busy and successful year for your Council on Aging. While the Senior Centercontinues to draw large numbers to a wide variety of events and programs, seniors using ourservices such as Meals-on-Wheels, Senior Van and Outreach continue to grow as well. Over 350seniors visited the center or used our services. The number of programs and events is continuingto expand and evolve into an even more comprehensive set of services to support Shirley senior’sneeds. The Center is truly becoming the “HUB” of activities for seniors in our community.In 2012 we expanded the programs by adding Mexican Dominos, Bingo and Card Time to theexisting slate of programs ranging from the Drop-in café to Yoga and Qigong to Painting andCrafts classes and our world famous “Wii Bowling”. Our Drop-in café continues to be a placewhere seniors come, relax, enjoy and feel at home. Here they will usually find a free cup ofcoffee, a friendly face and a hot game of Scrabble, Gin Rummy or Bridge. On Tuesdays, thanksto Kendra Dumont, they can have their nails done (yes even a guy or two have been seen sitting atKendra’s table). Our monthly meals, Senior Lunch and the successful Monthly Breakfastcontinue to be popular and a good source of nutrition. We are averaging over 70 people atbreakfast and 50 at lunch and everyone is leaving both full and happy. This is a true success byany measure.Much of the success is due to a large group of volunteers. We have a lot of people who give manyhours to make the center a place of comfort and enjoyment. Even those who do one project amonth, help make the center a better place. We would like to thank Ray Gagnon, Jon Pender,John & Kay Tohline, and Tom Heraty for all their efforts in keeping the center operating anddoing the much needed repairs and maintenance work that keeps the building humming. Thanksto the volunteer efforts of Chip and Delores Guercio, Barbara Nole, Doris Champagne, CathyLandry, Olga Pender, Charline Oelfke, Ann Towne, Rhoda Dow, Shirley Deyo, Marcia Sullivan,Kaye Tohline, Elaine Quinty, and Eleanor Hamilton, a series of “Guest Lunch Chefs” and many,many others who made the meals programs work.Also, our programs would not operate without the help of Don Parker, Nancy Siedliski, TracyBarrett, Maria Owen, Frank Esielionis, Joyce Patton, Donna Brun, Pat Florio and Ron Deyo. OurMeals-on-Wheels volunteers including Joseph Mandarano, Jamie Trainor, Fran Grey, Ken Laneand Craig Erban. Also volunteering their time are Bob McBrine, Jim Lanteigne and Bill Dow.Inevitably we have forgotten someone, and we apologize. Your deeds and services are importantand we thank you.During the year we continued to supply the town’s seniors with information through publicationssuch as the monthly newsletter (Editor Doreen Quintilani and delivery people Ann Towne andHarold Smith) and our Information 4 Seniors seminar on the 2 nd Monday of the month. OurOutreach Worker, Kathy Becker, has done a wonderful job of finding seniors in need andresponding to those needs. She has helped well over 100 seniors during her tenure here. Theposition is funded thanks to “Friends of the Shirley COA”. Having an Outreach worker hasenabled us to expand our ability to contact seniors, especially those who tend not to reach out forthemselves. We have been able to identify a portion of the community that needs and deservesservices and to be able to provide them those solutions which allow them to stay at home and livewith dignity.96