Winging It

Mature Adults Take Creative Writing

Many seniors find they are better writers than they imagined, when they enroll in community classes that teach creative writing to older adults.

Seniors by the dozens are proving that you are never too old to start writing the great American novel, poetry to inspire, short stories to entertain or memoirs to share. Every Thursday morning, a group of older aspiring writers gathers at St. Petersburg's Sunshine Center, 330 Fifth St. N.  They read their latest works, get positive feedback from peers and hear about ways to improve their writings. Fridays,  a similar group of mature citizens comes together in Gulfport, at the Multi-Purpose Senior Center, for the same purpose. They, too, are eager to read their latest pieces of writing and hear welcoming remarks from fellow members. They get constructive feedback to make their works better.   These are just two examples of the many …

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St. Petersburg Seniors Helping Seniors

The Sunshine Center has a need for volunteers, including in the fitness center, computer lab and retail shop.

ST. PETERSBURG – Perhaps no single entity in St. Petersburg offers more programs and services for the community’s senior population than the Sunshine Center, at 330 Fifth St. N.  It’s no wonder the Sunshine Center became the first senior center in Florida to be nationally accredited for its comprehensive programming to the city’s older citizens.  Of course, delivering quality services, including consistently adding new ones, to meet the changing needs of seniors using the Sunshine Center is always a challenge. Thanks to a culture focused on volunteer support, the center has been able to deliver its services.  Of course, to keep that culture flourishing there is always a need for volunteers, said Adult Volunteer Coordinator Ronnie Villano, …

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Popular Demand Brings Senior Karate to Sunshine Center

The class teaches techniques to help students protect themselves, using moves older adults can easily apply.

ST. PETERSBURG – Several months ago, the Sunshine Center, at 330 Fifth St. N., surveyed some of its regular members to find out what new activities they would like to see at the agency, which provides support and services to older residents.  Sally Marvin, center manager, said a self-defense class was a clear choice, so it was promptly started. The self-defense class is an hourlong session taught in the center’s exercise room every Friday from 11 a.m. to noon. The cost is $6 per week or $20 per month and involves students learning the basic techniques of Gōjū-ryū karate. (Gōjū-ryū is Japanese for “hard-soft style.”)  The class is taught by Gōjū-ryū expert Jose A. Soto, a longtime practitioner, competitor and trainer of karate. Soto, 55, …

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Six Outstanding Volunteers Named To Senior Hall Of Fame

The seniors were honored at a special ceremony at the Sunshine Center that recognized their benevolent service. to the community.

The night of Wednesday, May 25, was a very special evening for local seniors.  They had the distinction of being named to the St. Petersburg Senior Hall of Fame.  Many of their volunteer service goes back for decades. As new inductees, a group picture of them will be installed on the Senior Hall of Fame wall at the Sunshine Center, where the ceremony was held. Those bestowed with this honor are: • Jim Brown Jr., who has been so involved in the community that his nomination took two pages to list his volunteer work. He has been active in Exchange Clubs, served as a Festival of States member, been an elder in his church, and served as a umpire for Azalea Little League Baseball.  He was also responsible for helping to establish the Azalea …

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Want to Volunteer? St. Pete's Meals on Wheels Needs Help

The Neighborly Care Network's Meals On Wheels at the Sunshine Center is in need of volunteer drivers to deliver meals to home-bound seniors in the Sunshine City.

ST. PETERSBURG - For 30 years, Bonnie Douglass, 63, has been volunteering in a very special way at the Sunshine Center, at 330 Fifth St. N., in St. Petersburg. It is the kind of volunteer work that has allowed her to know immediately when she walks into the home of a homebound senior that she is making a difference in someone's life. In many cases, Bonnie will be the only person that individual sees face to face and talks to that day. And the food Bonnie delivers will be the only well-balanced, truly nutritious meal that the homebound senior eats in the next 24 hours. Plus, she is required, but is always more than willing, during her brief visit to make sure the individual is safe, with no apparent issue, that could be harmful to the …

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New Fitness Center Is Specifically Designed for Seniors

Local seniors are flocking to the Sunshine Center's new fitness center -- featuring exercise equipment for older people. Members are getting great results.

Do you live in the downtown area or Old Northeast St. Pete? Are you like many other seniors and made a New Year’s resolution either to lose weight or get more in shape, but after less than two months, you are already on the fringe of breaking that commitment?  Well, now you have one less excuse. That’s because right in your neighborhood is the new Sunshine Center Fitness Center. The new fitness center, housed in the Sunshine Center (330 Fifth St. N.), features an assembly of highly-regarded-in-the-fitness industry Shapemaster® exercise equipment specifically for seniors. Funding for this special equipment came from two sources: a community trust and bequests to the Sunshine Center. “This is something we have wanted for years,” said …

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What Brightens Carol Radin's Day? Without Question, Helping Seniors

'I don’t think about this as a job,' Radin says.. 'For me, it is the opportunity to simply meet with people, whether it is here or out in the community, and make a difference in the lives of seniors.'

“Carol was a great help to me in my getting a Living Will.  She’s really great. If you have any kind of question or issue, she’ll look into it. I know she has done much for a lot of people who come into the Sunshine Center.” – Clara White, 83 At St. Petersburg’s Sunshine Center, 330 Fifth St. N., a woman named Carol Radin, with the city’s Office on Aging, goes about her daily task performing some amazing work on behalf of seniors – initiatives that often go unnoticed, except for the people who benefit from her efforts. Her ambiguous title is “Administrative Assistant for Health & Resources.”  After you meet her and discover all that she does for the city’s older population, a better title for her might be “Miss City Senior Advocate.” The …

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Little Ms. Sunshine

Sunshine Center Manager Sally Marvin shares her love for seniors and her enthusiasm for running a highly successful facility whose mission is helping older residents.

For some people this may be a little too premature.  But Sally Marvin is already counting the months.  Counting the months to what? In late 2011, Sally will celebrate a milestone.  She will have worked 20 years with the city of St. Petersburg's Office on Aging, with most of her tenure in a job she truly loves: managing the highly popular, nationally recognized Sunshine Center at 330 Fifth St. N. There are many reasons why she enjoys her work and plans to be there for many years to come, but the bottom line is obvious: Sally is a person who really loves seniors. In discussing her work, Sally noted, "There is something different going on here every single day, which makes my job interesting.  I have also learned that seniors can teach you so…

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