Retirement News : Seniors : Seniors look to improve programs

Seniors look to improve programs

Date Added: 22-05-2005

MARQUETTE - Each year there are hundreds of senior citizen programs, events and services in Marquette County. Unfortunately, many seniors don't participate.

Finding whether that's due to a lack of interest or communications or some other factor is the task before the Senior Advisory Committee, which met Friday at Bonanza Restaurant in Marquette Township.
"Our number one priority is getting the activities to the seniors in the city and the townships," Don Britton of Chocolay Township said. "We're going to look for any opportunity to raise awareness and to get some ideas from the community, as far as what they're interested in."

The committee consists of representatives from Chocolay, Powell and Marquette townships as well as the city of Marquette . Each community has its own senior programs, but many swap seniors now and then for larger, more popular events.

"In Big Bay, we've been able to attract people to our noon potluck and many of our bigger events. We don't always have a lot more than our core group for some of the routine programs," Big Bay resident Gladys Trickett said .

Trickett has noticed that a lot of the seniors who attend larger events like the Big Bay harvest supper don't always go for entertainment that has drawn seniors for decades.

"Some seniors don't like bingo," Trickett said.

Marquette Mayor Jerry Irby, who became a senior citizen two years ago and sits on the county Commission on Aging, said that upcoming generations of seniors may have changing needs.

"We'll all be seniors someday. We're living longer," he said. "The Baby Boomers' needs may be different. They might not want to play bingo or do the things seniors do these days. So we have to start looking at the future needs of our seniors."

Every Monday and Tuesday evening and every Friday afternoon, a couple dozen seniors gather at the Marquette Senior Center for a favorite Upper Peninsula pastime that just may survive the generation gap - bridge. Jayne's Bridge Club is one of several programs at the center that you don't have to be a senior to attend.

"We welcome all age groups. Just show up and bring yourself," said Jayne Paquette of Marquette as she tallied up the days scores to be applied to the players' master point files. The club is officially sanctioned by the American Contract Bridge League. "And don't forget; there's pinochle on Monday's," a nearby senior added.

There were many ideas suggested, but one over-riding priority was to initiate a discussion on senior programs and their place in the community.

"We're one big community," said Carol Huempfner of Marquette Township. "This is a start for good public cooperation."

The dialog county pickup next year when county voters will decide whether to renew a 1 mil tax levy that supports senior programs.

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