The Kenmore Senior Center celebrated its 10th year open at the house in Rhododendron Park and the services it has been providing to seniors for a decade on Jan. 11.
Back in 1998, the city of Kenmore received Rhododendron Park from King County, which came with an old house and its annex. Then, in 2004, the city council granted the building to the Kenmore Senior Center (group) which had been bouncing from place to place for meetings.
“It’s wonderful it really is, I’m into my eighth year here as the program manager and I love it,” said Garreth Jeffers of the Kenmore Senior Center. “I just love what I do, otherwise I would have been retired a long time ago, ‘cause I ain’t no spring chicken anymore!”
The Senior Center is a welcoming place for seniors to come and chat while drinking coffee or tea, along with having a computer lab and offering activities like Yoga or Wii Bowling get-togethers.
“You can participate in many of the things we sponsor like the exercise class or driftwood sculpture class, or you can just come by and have coffee and cookies and chat with whoever is the receptionist, [or] pick up a book,” said Sharon Umemoto, who started volunteering in 2005. “It’s a nice way to pass time if you’re lonely and want to chat with someone…or just [enhance] your life a bit.”
Of course, the Senior Center isn’t the only great aspect of Rhododendron Park. The nearby playground brings in young families who help spread the word of the center to other elders in the Kenmore community, because as soon as they walk in the door, they’re sure to keep coming back to the inviting atmosphere of the center.
“That’s how I got involved, I just walked in the door and ever since then I’ve been involved,” Umemoto said. “I just like having this little center here…This small center and it’s just very cozy.”
Even though the Kenmore Senior Center has been a staple of the community for 10 years, it’s in need of more volunteers like Umemoto or the Boy Scouts who helped save over 300 rhododendrons and azaleas a few years back. Young and old, working together for a common goal and some community good.
“So many things had happened in that area of that park that have turned out so well, and to have the seniors there I think is of huge benefit to our community,” said Kenmore Mayor David Baker.
And the elders of the Kenmore Senior Center couldn’t be happier to be there either.
“I love what I do and I’ve got the most incredible group of receptionists and volunteers; they are amazing,” Jeffers said.
