Brooklyn Center, Robbinsdale Revive Monthly Senior Activities After Pandemic Shutdown
The sounds of dominoes falling and Yahtzee dice being shuffled in the plastic cup filled the room inside Brooklyn Center Community Center one Thursday morning recently. Three tables of senior citizens were engaged in friendly competition of a variety of board games, part of the monthly Leisure Age series hosted by the cities of Brooklyn Center and Robbinsdale.
Leisure Age, a monthly gathering for seniors from Brooklyn Center and Robbinsdale, is back every month.
“It’s great having those resources where we can share and help each other out,” said Will Cardenas, Community Engagement Coordinator for the City of Robbinsdale. “That’s what recreation is all about, just helping each other and providing those resources for all of our residents to have something that they’re able to participate in.”
The series was halted during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and in February, the cities, in partnership with Copperfield Hill Senior Living, decided to re-start it.
“It’s not about the food or entertainment but providing that safe and welcoming space for the seniors to make their connections with peers and kind of get themselves out of their houses,” said Rachel Salzer, Recreation Coordinator for the City of Brooklyn Center. “It’s been really awesome kind of seeing them grow friendships and be excited to come here every month and just looking forward to the next.”
Leisure Age is every second Thursday of the month from September to December and then January through May. It starts at 11:00 a.m. at Brooklyn Center Community Center, and includes game and social time, a light lunch, and some entertainment before it wraps up around 1:30 p.m.
Judy Besch has lived in Brooklyn Center for more than 50 years and just started coming when the series started again in February.
“We enjoy being together and we enjoy having fun,” she said between games of Yahtzee. “I also know it stimulates the brain a lot, and it opens us up to new people, and it gets us out of our little box, which wouldn’t be easy as a retired person.”
