Lilia Garciela and Aracely Piedra play bingo, one of the regularly scheduled social activities held at the Golden Gate Senior Center. CDC guidelines are adhered to during all gatherings held at the center.
Joe Landon’s Making a Difference in the March 25th edition of Florida Weekly highlights some of the struggles seniors are facing and how the Golden Gate Senior Center is stepping up to make a difference in these difficult times.
The isolation seems to be the toughest part of the pandemic to deal with for those of us who are senior citizens. About 1,500 of our neighbors have been turning to Collier Senior Resources and its Golden Gate Senior Center for help in dealing with the isolation as well as for their needs for daily hot lunches, direct financial assistance, and hookups to COVID-19 vaccine appointments.
And we’re talking about a sizable group of people being affected, as you’d suspect, with 33 percent of our county’s population falling into that 65-plus category.
About 1,500 of our neighbors have been turning to Collier Senior Resources and its Golden Gate Senior Center for help in dealing with the isolation as well as for their needs for a daily hot lunch, direct financial assistance and hookups to COVID-19 vaccine appointments.
But for some, the chance to see other people, while following the CDC guidelines, has been the best part.
“What I like about the center is that we socialize and share experiences, says Sonia Morales, who loves to visit. “Without the center, I would be sitting home alone and lonely.”
Iglory Perry, a visitor as well, credits the center with providing structure as opposed to the enforced solitude she says she’d face if the center was not available.
Read more on FloridaWeekly.com . . .
Joe Landon for Florida Weekly