The Ridge Meadows Seniors Society celebrated their 25th anniversary celebration in Maple Ridge with cake, ice cream, and plenty of games for all who attended.
About 120 seniors gathered for the event at the Maple Ridge Seniors Activity Centre on Tuesday, Oct. 8.
Going back 25 years a group of seniors had a vision to make a different in their peers' lives, said Maria Perretta, executive director of the Ridge Meadows Seniors Society.
"We're just building on their vision over the years," she noted, adding that she thinks the society has done a great job.
"I think we've done a really great job with being relevant to what seniors' needs are – making it a home for people to come to do their activities, but also find the support, the friendship, the fun with other people, just to keep it social," she said.
Documented by Sandra Penney in the book Celebrating Seniors: A History of the Ridge Meadows Seniors Society 1999-2019, seniors used to meet at the Centennial Centre in Maple Ridge in the '60s and '70s, but needed more space. In 1978 a hall was added.
Then in 1979 the Elderly Citizens Recreation Association was formed which represented various seniors groups and oversaw existing activities, while sponsoring new ones.
The centre became so popular that the building was renovated again in 1988 to accommodate the programs like counselling, medical advice, card games, carpet bowling, and subsidized lunches. The president of the recreation association was always trying to raise more support for the local seniors community.
With population growth in the city, it soon became clear that the Centennial Centre, would need to accomodate more and more needs of the community.
So, on Oct. 13, 1993, after two years of convincing the city council of the day that seniors needed a centre of their own, the city agreed to sell 2.6 acres of municipal land for a new 32,000 square foot recreation centre for those 55 years and older in addition to two condo towers specifically for seniors.
However, when the recreation centre was finally completed, it was 25,000 square feet with one tower of 119 units of seniors housing.
Opening day was celebrated on Oct. 23, 1999.
Bonnie Finnigan, was having a tremendous amount of fun at the event with games like a clothes pin drop, fishing derby, bean bag toss, pin the tail on the donkey, and more. She said her favourite station was the temporary tattoo station where she had a blue rose put on the inside of her forearm.
Brian Pugsley had a temporary tattoo on his left cheek. He enjoyed the bean bag toss the best.
Pugsley said he lives at the centre and enjoys having lunch there, he enjoys the food.
Myriam Schanofski said she enjoys the camaraderie she finds at the seniors activity centre the most.
"We're all friends, we talk to each other, help each other, it's nice," said Schanofski, who is involved in a variety of programs including singing with the Silvertones Choir, line dancing, Hawaiian dancing, and other exercise programs.
She said the centre helps seniors.
"You know, people our age, we need to move, otherwise you get stuck into the television," she said.
Perretta said staffing has grown, which means that programming has definitely grown over the past quarter of a century.
"We have expanded things like the drivers program, our food service, we've added the seniors food bank, our partnerships have grown with local agencies, in this past year we've acquired a community bus in partnership with some other agencies," she said, noting they've tried to find what the needs are of seniors and try to implement programs that suit them.
"We're just ecstatic to be here for 25 years. We're just really looking forward to all he things that we will be doing in the future," she said
Another celebration took place the afternoon of Thursday, Oct. 10, at the Pitt Meadows Seniors Activity Centre.
