Annandale Center Helps Senior Citizens Stay Socially Active

Over 20 years ago, a group of Annandale residents got together in the basement of a church in the Sleepy Hollow Woods neighborhood and brainstormed activities that older citizens in the community could participate in. The efforts of those residents led to what is now the Wakefield Senior Center, formerly the Lincolnia Senior Center, located at 8100 Braddock Road at the Audrey Moore Recreation Center in Wakefield Park.

The Wakefield Senior Center opened in 1985. As word spread about the center to seniors in other areas of Fairfax County, senior-oriented programs started appearing in a number of areas within the county. In 1987, the center caught the attention of the Fairfax County government. Seeing that the senior center had a large following that required coordination, effort and resources, the county decided to house the centers. Today, there are 13 senior centers in the district and they are part of the Fairfax County Department of Community Neighborhood Services.

The center is open to seniors aged 55 years and up who reside in Fairfax County. For an annual fee of $48, members can participate in a number of activities throughout the week such as line dancing, yogo, computer lab, arts and crafts workshops and more. Each day of the week has a specific activity. There's an open art lab on Mondays, playing cards and line dancing on Tuesdays and every second Tuesday or Monday there are activities with Northern Virginia Senior Olympics.

On Wednesdays there are exercise videos and bridge, yoga and computer lab on Thursdays where members can e-mail their grandchildren or check their Facebook accounts and on Fridays, there are arts and crafts sessions. During one arts and crafts workshop, members learned how to make a teddy bear. On the last Friday of every month, all members who have a birthday in that month are celebrated.

Guest speakers come to visit and discuss issues pertaining to older adults such as prescription medication, proper nutrition and dealing with grief. Members also go on weekly trips around town to go shopping, taking walks in the park or going to the harbor.

"A rainy day at a senior center with friends is better that a rainy day at home alone," said Tarbett, director of the Wakefield Senior Center.

According to Tarbett, many of the members of the centers are retired professors, authors, editors, physicists, dancers and the list goes on. Some of the employees at the center are multilingual, so the center is able to accommodate their members who are non-English speakers.

Outside of the members, the center has a large support system in place. There are various businesses, organizations and groups meet quarterly every year to discuss ways to ensure that the needs of seniors are always being considered in the development of the community such as making sure that all buildings in the area are accessible to the elderly. There is also an advisory council that distributes surveys throughout the year to focus groups in order to obtain feedback about current programs and the desires of the senior citizens. After senior center members indicated they wanted a dance floor, one was installed in May.

The center also publishes a monthly newspaper, the Golden Gazette, that is available both in print and online. The paper covers a range of topics pertaining to older adults, includes senior center highlights and informs older adults in the vicinity of greater Fairfax.

The Wakefield Senior Center is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and is closed on weekends. For more information, visit the Fairfax County Senior Services website or call 703-321-3000.