On Thursday, the second annual Senior Active Living Fair took place at the Thorold 50+ Centre on Carleton Street.
“Every booth in here has different information that is all senior related,” explained Brenda Bator, who is the president of the Thorold 50+ Association. “If you’re 50 and over, this is the place to come get information.”
There was a wide variety of organizations present at the fair, such as community services, Heritage Thorold, Hear Canada, the Thorold Public Library and Canada Revenue.
“I’m the health outreach worker,” said Christine, from the Niagara Regional Native Centre. “It’s just a natural fit for us. It’s nice, it’s really good.”
Funeral Director Rick Westlake from Bocchinfuso Funeral Home was also present to hand out brochures to help people plan the last stages of their life.
“This is important,” Westlake told ThoroldToday. “We don’t want to bring anybody down. We want to keep it light. We’re giving our books out. This is everything you need for a funeral so you can do your own planning. If something happens, at least they have this to go by.”
The day-long event also featured presentations by author Sara McVanel and Jennifer Heisz, Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Brain Health and Aging in the Department of Kinesiology at McMaster University.
In the afternoon, Trillium Massage Therapy students came down to give free massages.
The comprehensive event exemplifies the mission of the Thorold 50+ Centre, said Bator.
“You got to get out — no social isolation,” she said. “We don’t want you sitting at home doing nothing. We provide tons of activities.”
Volunteer and second vice-president of the centre, Linda Reid, said that it’s the centre’s wide variety of programming that has helped her make new friends.
“I moved to Thorold three years ago so I wanted to meet new people and get involved,” she said. “This was a start for me. We got lots to do. So I’m playing cards or bingo or darts, whatever. I’m into all that too.”
The centre is currently experiencing a boom of new members. Ever since they changed their name back in April they’ve added almost 100 new members to the centre, bringing enrolment up to a total 235.
“You don’t recognize the importance of what you’re doing until you’re here,” said Bator. “Then you start to see the people and how they are changing. We have people coming in that never would have come in before because we called it 'The Seniors Centre'. Now that’s changed. We’re growing leaps and bound.”
To keep up with demand, the centre is ever-expanding its programming.
“We have new bus trips coming up,” Bator said. “We’ve applied for another grant and if we get that grant I’ll be able to feed any senior in this town for the next year at two dollars for lunch, dinner or breakfast.”
Bator said that the success of the fair is down to the personal relationships the centre has formed.
“We work together — it’s just amazing,” she said. “We just pull everyone together. That’s what you need to do. It’s a community.”
