MILTON — The Guy Thompson Community Center’s staff starts their ‘Lunch & Learn’ series next week.
The topic? Advising senior citizens on how avoid phone- or Internet-based scams. On Wednesday, Kim Purvis with the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office will lead the discussion.
And more helpful topics will take focus in the future.
MORE ‘LUNCH’ TO COME
Events Coordinator Kyle Kemp and Facility Coordinator Joe Paschal said monthly ‘Lunch’ events will involve discussion on several themes including ‘Road to Recovery’ from the American Cancer Society and a holiday nutrition program, among others.
Community center officials said attendees should RSVP before each ‘Lunch’ activity to ensure enough seating and food are available.
“In like two days, we had like 45 people (RSVP),” said Brenda Rowland, executive director of the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program of Santa Rosa County. “That was outside of advertising; it was just word-of-mouth.”
Offering the Lunch & Learn series is one of many ways the community center programs activities for area senior citizens. The center weekly offers card games, bingo, pickleball and line dancing, among other activities.
The center also has scheduled these events:
●Senior Arts and Crafts exhibition and Rummage Sale: 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sept. 3
●Line Dance event: 6 to 9 p.m. Sept. 17; $5 per person.
●Fall Prevention Awareness Event: 8 a.m. to noon on Thursday, Sept. 22.
SEEKING ACCREDITATION
Community Center officials hope to have the facility accredited as a senior center through the National Council on Aging.
Paschal said accreditation would come with several benefits.
“It will give the city prestige, because there is only a few (senior) centers in Florida that are accredited,” he said. “It should also offer grant opportunities.”
Parks and Recreation Director John Norton believes having an accredited center could affect the local economy.
“The senior center accreditation will be very big for us,” Norton said. “It could open more than just grant opportunities, it could also give us an opportunity to have senior low-income housing come around.”
The city’s parks and recreation staffers are preparing paperwork needed to be accredited. Parks and Recreation Director John Norton anticipates submitting the paperwork in September.
Norton credited Dr. Rodney Guttmann of the University of West Florida for leading the process.
Becoming accredited would further spread the word about the facility, which attracts residents outside of Milton.
“We are starting to draw in people from the surrounding areas, not just the Milton area,” Norton said.
Pickleball regularly brings in residents from Fort Walton Beach, the south end of the county and neighboring Escambia County, he said.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Community Center sets monthly lunch series, seeks accreditation