Volunteer of the Month
Archives

July 2019
Charles Roberts

Photo of Charles Roberts

This month we’d like to give thanks to a familiar face, but one you might not know of in relation to the Highland Senior Center. Charles Roberts is the former editor of the Highland Community News, where he was a big supporter of the Highland Senior Center and would often visit the center to cover our events and activities. However when he retired at the end of 2017, he continued to support our center, but in a different capacity. Before retiring, he asked Jeff, the Outreach Director if we could use some volunteers, as he did not want to become bored. Well, he asked the right person, as he was immediately made a Transportation Assistance Program (TAP) driver. He volunteers to drive just about every weekday, and sometimes on weekends as well. Yet his helping us out doesn’t stop there. He also helps out in our Food Program, three days a weeks. He sorts outs the food we bring in and then helps us to pass it out to our seniors. We would also like to thank his wife, Myrna, who gives him time off from his retirement Honey Do list to help us out.

Featured Class

Spanish
Date: January 17, 2019
Time: 1:30 - 2:30 pm
Length: 8 weeks
Cost: $8 members
      $8 non-members
Instructor: Louise Ayala
Location: Game Room
Description: This month we=d like say Bienvenido to our newest instructor, Louise Ayala. Louise will be teaching the Spanish class this fall. She may be new to us, but she’s not new to teaching. She has 25 years of teaching experience, with a K-12 teaching credential. She has mostly taught elementary and spent six years teaching Spanish. Louise learned Spanish as a child growing up in household with two fluent Spanish speaking parents. She also took Spanish in High School and spent her senior year as a tutor and teaching aid, helping to teach. Once in college she decided she only needed one year. As for our class, she will be focusing on conversational Spanish. The class will enable you to carry on limited conversation at first just to get you started. Then as you progress, so will the levels. As for what to bring, just bring a writing instrument and paper. Books might come later. We hope to see you there, or as you will soon be saying, Esperamos verte ahí.

Featured Activity

Aerobics
Time: Dailys 9:00 am
Cost: 1:00 per class members
      same non-members
Location: Exercise Room
Description: Just like the lemurs in Madagascar the people in our aerobics class like to move it. The class is held Monday through Friday from 9 - 10 am in the exercise room. The class is taught by two instructors. Julia Ragan leads on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursdays. Penny Holt takes the reigns on Mondays and Fridays. Both Julia and Penny were originally trained for Jazzercise and have adapted their exercies and classes for older adults. They teach on a circuit, starting out with a short warm up, then climbing or increasing the intensity for 35 minutes, before cooling down. They finish with chair aerobics focusing on arms, abs, and legs. In her Wednesday class, Julia tries to mix it up with different types of exercise such as Zumba or Bollyrobics (a mixture of Bollywood and aerobics). You can come to either or both instructors classes. Classes are only $1 per class and are open to all seniors. Just wear some comfortable clothes, and bring water and a sweat towel and get ready to move it.
2010 Health Fair
By: Mike Sylva
Even though there was no worries about a swine flu epidemic, or a shortage of vaccines, there were still plenty of people who came to the Highland Senior Center’s Annual Health Fair

to get their shots. And while the lines didn’t stretch out for a hundred or so yards as in the past, like when we had the first shots available in the area, the line was still long. Maybe its because the shots only cost $10 here vs. $25 elsewhere, or maybe it’s because of all the other services and information we had on hand to help pass the time while over 300 people waited for their shots.

The weather was certainly on our side, as previous days had extreme heat, wind, and thunderstorms. On the day of the fair it was a sunny day, but not too hot with a nice breeze every once in a while to make it comfortable. Meanwhile, we tried to have most of the services inside so that while you did wait in line, most of it was spent inside with the air conditioning. That way, when fair goers got their blood pressure checked, it was more reasonable. However, nothing we could do could help with the body mass index. Members were on their own for that one. Nothing we could’ve done to help them with that...sorry.

Thanks to the volunteers who came to set up and work the fair, all of our wonderful vendors who came out to make this a success. Additional thanks go our to the Highland Police Department’s Citizen’s Patrol for their excellent traffic control. Mostly we would like to thank our event sponsors, the Physicians of Beaver Medical Group and the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians.