The literature on aging has
identified three pillars to successful aging: avoiding disease and disability;
active engagement in life; and maximizing your cognitive and physical fitness.
But Dr. Michael Parker, at the University of Alabama’s Comprehensive Center for
Healthy Aging, believes there should be a fourth pillar which has been
forgotten when discussing successful aging - the spiritual.
Spirituality extends beyond the physical and material, and
connects the individual to something greater than the self. It is deeply
personal and expressed in a variety of ways including the involvement in
religious activities which is associated with better physical and mental health
by providing intergenerational connections, social supports, and encouraging
social involvement through good works.
To learn more you can attend the last Passport to
Happiness Event of 2013 on Wednesday December 18th at the Center
from 3:00 – 4:30 when Joyce Powell Morin will discuss the connection between
spirituality and health and well-being.
You’ve
probably heard the joke “Keep Grandma off the Street – Support Bingo”. For Thursday
and Saturday Night Bingo at the Center, there is a loyal following of older
adults but you will also find people of all ages enjoying bingo and the tantalizing feeling of being, oh, so close
– “just one more number!” Or the thrill of taking home $1000.
But bingo
is the largest fundraiser for both Meals-on-Wheels (on Thursday nights} and the
Center {on Saturday nights). For the Center, bingo generates approximately 20%
of the Center’s operating budget. And as a special thank-you to all the bingo
players who help support both Meals-on-Wheels and the Center, and to invite new
players to this classic American game of chance, on Saturday December 28th
the Center will welcome the New Year, albeit a few days early, with a Bingo Bash. A free
dinner featuring pulled pork sandwiches will be served between 4:30 and 5:30 - in
time to digest, clean up and be ready for the games to begin at 6:00 PM.
Thanks
to the several folks who stepped forward to help with Bingo, but we still need
a couple more cashiers and concession workers to fill in once a month. The time
commitment is between 3 ½ and 5 ½ hours a night. Call the Center if you are
interested.
The
Center’s annual Christmas breakfast will be on December 21st - once
again sponsored by The Springs of Mill Creek. The menu will include Pancakes,
Scrambled Eggs, Bacon plus fruit and your favorite beverage. And to add to the
festive spirit, The Springs will be providing musical entertainment; plus they
have invited Santa so the young-at-heart can have their picture taken with
Santa. The cost is still only $5.00 for the general public and $4.00 for Center
members. This will also be your last chance to buy raffle tickets for the
beautiful quilt hanging in the Center’s lobby. The drawing will be held at 9:00
during the breakfast. .
During
the holidays, the Center and Meals-on-Wheels will be closed Christmas Eve, Christmas
Day and New Year’s Day. And because Christmas and New Year’s Day fall on Wednesdays,
there will not be Tuesday Night Music at the Center for the next two weeks. (You
will just have to wait to use your already scrambled brain cells to decipher
the wacky mixed up weekly music announcement.}
And there will not be Tuesday Lectures for the next two weeks either -
which gives me time to line up the next speaker for January 7th. During
the holidays many other Center classes are cancelled, so you may want to call
to make sure your class is meeting.
In one of his last roles,
Boris Karlof was the voice of the Grinch who stole Christmas in the children’s
classic first shown on December 18th in 1966. (The winner of a free Christmas
Breakfast on Saturday December 21st is Glenna McCargar.)
As you
remember Christmas pasts with presents bought and received, here is a “Remember
When” question for both the boys and girls in the peanut gallery. For the boys,
what kind of cap did Fess Parker make famous in the Disney mini-series Davy
Crockett? And for the girls, what was the name of one of the most popular
“drink-and-wet dolls” of the 50’s?
E-mail your answer to mcseniorcenter@gmail.com, call 541-296-4788 or mail it
with a saver book of S&H Green Stamps.
Well,
it has been another week discovering what you think does matter doesn’t and
what doesn’t matter does. Until we meet again, don’t let your angels pass by without
saying thank-you.
“Unless
we make Christmas an occasion to share our blessings, all the snow in Alaska
won't make it 'white'.” Bing Crosby