Volunteer of the Month
Archives

April 2021
Leisa Alexander

Photo of Leisa Alexander

This month we’d like to shine the light on someone few of you may have seen, but may have benefited from her volunteering. Lesia (pronounced Lisa) Alexander has been helping us out since 2020. During that time she has helped serve meals for Thanksgiving, Operation Senior Claus, and most recently, the Grab-n-Go dinners Monday thru Friday she can be helping out her sister, Mae Lucero, getting the dinners from the local restaurants, then helping to distribute them to seniors at the center. However, Leisa doesn’t just come here help to serve food. All that work can wear a person out, so when she’s not volunteering, she enjoys coming to the center’s Aerobics Program to boost her cardio. Originally from Meridian, MS, she and her two siblings came out Calif., to live with, and be raised by their big sister Mae, when their mom passed away. After she grew up she went to work for the Dept. of Corrections where she worked for 27 years before retiring. During that time she raised a son, who in turn, gave her a grandchild. Thanks Leisa for helping to ensure that our senior don’t go hungry.

Featured Class

Spanish
Date: April 23, 2020
Time: 1:30 - 2:30 pm
Length: 8 weeks
Cost: $8 members
      $8 non-members
Instructor: TBA
Location: Game Room
Description: This class is designed to teach students 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

Hula
Time: Thursdays 10:00 - 10:30 am
Cost: Free members
      Free non-members
Location: Exercise Room
Description: Get ready to shake your groove thing as we welcome back Hula! In January, our Hula returned on Thursdays from 10:00 - 10:30 am. The class is officially called Hula and is being taught by Yolanda “YoYo” Hernandez. YoYo is our new instructor. She learned Hula when she was 72! She always wanted to learn, but didn’t the time, being busy with raising a family and work. She first started with yoga, learning balance. From there she worked on her flexibility, and finally learned Hula. She also believes that Hula is good for the body and the brain, having to remember the dance calls, the steps, and of course, the dancing itself. She first started teaching at another center, before she was asked to start teaching here. YoYo teaches both men and women and begins with the basics. She teaches both “hapa haole (Hula dance with English words), and traditional Hawaiian dances. Classes are taught on Thursdays, from 10:00 – 10:30 am and are free to attend. All one needs to bring is a willing spirit. Until then ke nānā aku nei mākou e ʻike iā ʻoe (we look forward to seeing you).
Mentalist Dinner Show
By: Mike Sylva
If youve ever seen Psych or The Mentalist you know what a Mentalist is. Its a person who professes to read minds or tell fortunes. Again, if youve seen those shows, you know that a mentalist just uses observation and powers of deduction. Still, its pretty impressive and looks pretty magical.

Last month we had our own Mentalist/Magician, Carl Christman. He is a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians. He is also a professor of Communications at Riverside Community College, and uses his knowledge of psychology, nonverbal communication, and language to read peoples true thoughts and influence their choices.

One of the tricks he did was to take four audience members (3 females and 1 male), who drew pictures, and traded with each other while Carls back was turned. He then produced an envelope addressed to THE MAN. Inside the envelope was his prediction of the picture male would end up with and TADA...he was right.

Thanks to Linda Brian and Rosa Peraza for helping serve the audience their pasta dinner before the show, who made their food disappear.