VOLUNTEERS AT THE PASADENA SENIOR CENTER

The Pasadena Senior Center has more than 125 volunteers who served 24,000+ hours in 2001. They are averaging in excess of 2000 hours monthly for 2002. The Pasadena Senior Center is open 365 days a year to assist seniors in computer and fitness training, pro bono professional legal and tax advice, podiatry, and health screenings. The Center also has birthday parties and special events, classes and grocery shopping for and delivery to the homebound and disabled.

Many of the senior volunteers are mature. Most of them are in their nineties, but they are still dedicated to coming to the Center to help less fortunate seniors who are isolated. Service is a way of life for them, not just something to do. They desire to make a difference for other seniors, and they are the reason the facility is able to be open seven days a week.

The volunteers at the Center feel useful, needed and appreciated. They, in turn, make the members at the center feel comfortable, cared for and no longer alone. One young lady staffs the front desk at the center two days a week, arriving before 8:00 a.m. Another gentleman makes telephone reassurance calls to homebound seniors one day a week. Though his eyes are failing him, and his wife has to dial the phone for him; this volunteer still serves. His wife also comes in one other day each week to take grocery orders for those who are not able to shop for themselves.

Other examples of volunteer service at the center are seniors teaching seniors computer technology twice a week, English as a Second Language once a week and helping staff with computer technology updates. One volunteer is only able to come to the Center via the Dial-A-Ride senior service program, but he comes each month to register low-income seniors at the Center for food distribution. A volunteer that is a nurse oversees the fitness room and performs blood pressure screenings once a month.

The Center also has a library service that is run by seniors and has helped over 3,000 members. In addition, the “Tap Chicks,” who are women over 50, train in the fine art of tap dancing to perform as entertainment at the Center.