Nearly every weekday year-round, folks in the 65 and over crowd in Addison Township head to the senior center housed in the Addison Twp. Hall for classes, friends and events.

Addison has kept a senior center program for years, and it never seems to lose its popularity.

“Seniors need (a place for them),” said Seniors Coordinator  Marie May. “The township had it before in their old building and brought it back for this one. I think it’s because they just know how important it is that seniors have a place where they can meet and make friends.”

The senior center doesn’t charge for any of its events or classes and  is sustained almost entirely by volunteers.

One of the volunteers, Kathy Dawson, facilitates a chair  yoga class.

“The yoga class has been going on for about a year,” May said. “They have a  DVD they follow because we don’t have an instructor, and  the  reason we don’t  have an instructor is so we can keep it free for people to come to it. All of our leaders that come in are volunteers from the community who are retired, and they just love their jobs.”

The yoga class is taught through a video, and the class’ attendees enjoy the low key atmosphere it creates. There’s a tight-knit, dedicated group of seniors who take the class with no plans of stopping anytime soon.

“People love the video,” May said. “And I think that’s because they really don’t feel responsible for who has to be in charge, they can just get together. A lot of them that come in for (yoga) come in for other things, too, so they can come out and see friends.”

Some of the center’s classes focus on  health, like yoga and neurological movement while others focus on hobbies like painting, quilting and using computers. For seniors looking to just come hang out with others, May said Wednesdays are reserved for playing cards and having coffee.

The center also takes trips, which are also free unless wherever they’re going has a cost. Last month, seniors took a tour of the Packard Plant in Detroit and, this month, the center  went out to a day of free fun at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) on Sept. 6.

May said the seniors decided  to visit the DIA again after going earlier this year in March because it was fun for everyone to make a day of it. She says during this month’s trip, they stopped to get dinner together at Louie’s Food and Spirits in Addison afterward.

In May’s words, the center is meant to help keep Addison’s seniors active and to help fight loneliness. She said new faces are always more than welcome and thinks of herself not as the director of the center, but more like the facilitator of getting seniors together to enjoy their retirements with friends by their side.

“It’s a great thing for the seniors in the community,” May said. “I’ve lived here for 30 years and it’s so good to see people who are new in the community do things and make friends. You know, I don’t feel like it’s my center, I feel like it’s our senior center. So when I make decisions and things I like to bring in the seniors and get their opinion.”