By James Hanlon
Leader Staff Writer
There are plenty of ways for seniors to get involved and stay active at Addison Senior Center inside the township offices at 1440 Rochester Rd. A monthly calendar shows most weekdays filled with events, classes and activities.
Wednesday mid-mornings, for example, are a time to get together to play cards and bring your own lunch. Last Wednesday, card players dressed up for Halloween.
Participation at the senior center is free. “Our township supervisor, Bruce Pearson, did not want to charge people to come in. And it was a brilliant idea,” said Senior Coordinator Marie May. “It’s hard to have a class without paying somebody to lead the class. So I asked seniors from around here if they would lead the classes.”
To her surprise, many retirees have stepped up to the call. “Now they have something they are doing, so when someone asks what they do now that they are retired, they can say, ‘Oh, I teach a class at Addison Township.’ And it makes them feel good too.”
“We keep them moving. They want to move,” said Ken Detone, a certified senior citizen trainer who leads an exercise class on Mondays and Wednesdays. “We do a little bit of aerobics, a little bit of strength, much balance. I don’t want people to fall.”
Kathy Dawson, who leads yoga on Thursdays, agrees on the importance of balance. “It’s chair yoga,” she explained. “We don’t get down on the floor, so it’s a lot more stable for older folks. The basics of yoga are good breathing, stretching, holding of form and balance. We concentrate on balance and improving balance as we get older.”
For those looking for something a little easier, Shirley Deloreau leads a class on the Feldenkrais Method of neuro movement. “It works at the level of your brain and your nervous system to reorganize difficult, painful or limited patterns,” she explained. “It’s very light movement, very soft. You’re not forcing anything.”
Deloreau said it enables people to do more things. Some of her students go on to participate in the exercise class. “I don’t know if they would be able to do the exercise classes now if they weren’t in my class doing things that are helping aches and pains. So, it’s powerful.”
Besides exercise, the center has a psychologist who comes in to discuss senior challenges and “how to grow old gracefully,” while tech experts can answer questions about cell phones and computers.
May also organizes field trips to casinos, museums and the movies. Since they are a small group, they sometimes join Oxford and Romeo senior centers.
Participation is actually above what it was before the pandemic. “These are younger-thinking seniors,” May said. “They want to do things and go places. They don’t want to play bingo for a nickel. They want to go to the casino!”
For more information, contact Marie May at 248-628-3388 or seniorprogram@addisontwp.org.