TodayShippensburg senior center reaches out with videogames, classes
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Shirley Keefer follows through with her bowling motion during some Wii competition at Shippensburg Senior Center recently. Her husband, John, seated, talks to John Loewen while waiting for his turn. (Dale Heberlig/The Sentinel)
Membership at the Shippensburg Senior Center has grown by leaps and bounds in the past two years, but director Anne Hinkle is not resting — she wants even more people to discover what the center offers.
“It’s not just a soup kitchen anymore,” she says. “Actually it hasn’t been for a long time. It’s about active and independent people over 60.”
While lunch is still a staple at the Southampton Township Multi-Purpose Center in Cleversburg, Hinkle says the meal is more of a social event and less of a necessity.
Before and after lunch, activities like pinochle, shuffleboard, bingo, Tai Chi and other exercise programs, line dancing, Bible study and guest speakers abound.
Techno-fun
Hinkle says a new-fangled gadget — a Nintendo Wii game console -- is a surprising hit.
She says some were hesitant about diving into hi-tech entertainment but flourished when the overcame their reluctance.
“We have Wii tournaments in bowling, golf, tennis and boxing,” Hinkle says. “It’s in use continually and you have to schedule time on it. The people get so competitive and they just have a blast.”
John Loewen, an 83-year-old retired pastor, is one of those Johnny-come-latelies to the video game world.
He says the Wii games are just one aspect of the fellowship and companionship that makes the senior center so attractive that he has decided to spend the entire year in Shippensburg after 17 years of wintering in Florida.
“They asked me if I wanted to try bowling on the Wii, and I said sure,” Loewen says.
He found the game easy to learn and enjoyable to play.
“I don’t want to brag, but I’ve become pretty fair at it,” he says.
Loewen bowled a 242 score to gain a spot on a Cumberland County-wide team that beat teams from York and Dauphin counties in a recent tourney.
Hinkle says membership at the center ballooned from 55 to more than 200 in two years since the seniors moved into the Cleversburg center.
Much of the success is linked to the location itself, Hinkle told Southampton Township supervisors Monday morning in an update.
“You gave them ownership when you provided this facility,” Hinkle said. “They’re proud of their sponsor, they love you guys. It’s been a whole mentality change.”
A recent study performed by social work students of Assistant Professor Liz Fisher at Shippensburg University was aimed at enticing more members.
Fisher says her students used a mass mailing and personal contacts in an effort to find out what would attract disinterested seniors to the center.
She says many of those who don’t attend the senior center “just aren’t interested” for a variety of reasons.
“Some say they’re still working, others said they don’t have time or have other interests,” Fisher says.
Very few said they don’t know where the center is and only one person said it was too far away, Fisher says.
Hinkle says senior citizens are divided into three broad groups — those who are still employed, the postretirement group and those over 79 years of age. She wants to introduce all three to what the center offers.
“We have people from all groups and they interact well together,” Hinkle says. “We have older members who do the chair exercises and we have younger members who play cards and bingo. What they all do is get involved and build relationships.”
