Houston Seniors Association applied for a New Horizons grant in July 2014. We called the project “Dynamic Seniors”.
The goal of the project is comprised of several key elements; inclusion and participation of seniors in intellectual, physical and “just for fun” activities. Seniors will mentor others and our organization will make a special effort to involve isolated seniors in the proposed activities. Participation will improve the mental and physical health of seniors.
Activities proposed were line dancing and/or dancing, acrylic painting lessons, tablet and i pad training and free swimming. All of these activities were not being offered. The application also included the purchase of a wireless speaker system to allow for instruction and leading of the dance lessons.
The activities that were successful were acrylic painting classes, i pad and tablet training, free swimming, brain dance exercises and genealogy workshops. We were unable to find a local line dance instructor so we started to take people to neighboring Smithers but people found it to be too much time involved. We intend to have guest speakers: dietitian, pharmacist and RCMP on fraud awareness.
We started the project with a community seniors’ luncheon to introduce the proposed program and handed out questionnaires asking what activities and new ideas that they would to have added to the Houston Seniors programs. The luncheon was well attended and many forms were turned in.
We purchased tablets and computers for training and workshops.
We are only part way through the project and we have gained many new members and have reached the goal of bringing several seniors out to participate in the above and other activities.