With more people filling up classes and its membership rates growing every month, the Solvang Senior Center added new programs and more opportunities for seniors to explore their community and make new friends.
“It’s important for people to socialize, and that’s something we also offer: the chance to socialize while they are also keeping healthy, mentally and physically,” Solvang Senior Center Executive Director Ellen Albertoni told the Sun. “That’s what we encourage, that sense of community, fellowship, and bonding as we progress through life.”
The Solvang Senior Center is a nonprofit that acts as a community hub for “active-aging” adults 55 and older. The center offers activities like low-impact exercise classes, daily lunches, and monthly member dinners along with opportunities for connection and vital resources.
While growing its programs, the center is also moving forward with plans to build a new permanent building—replacing the current structure, originally built in 1983, with a 4,725-square-foot, two-story building, according to the Solvang Senior Center. The center’s capital campaign has raised more than $3.3 million, approximately 90 percent of the total amount needed to cover construction and furnishing costs to ensure it will be “outfitted with state-of-the-art features,” according to a statement from the senior center.
“We’ve kept it in the best shape possible; everything is working, everything is safe, but it’s not serving its purpose as it should anymore,” Albertoni said. “It’s not just about what people want or need, but what they deserve. They deserve to walk into a beautiful, modern, and functioning building that gives us the opportunity to serve our community as a whole.”
The senior center experienced a comeback after shutting its doors during the COVID-19 pandemic, she added. While the shutdown has had lasting effects, Albertoni added that she saw how important the center was for the community and did whatever she and her staff could to keep members engaged.
“We’ve restructured and regrouped, and now we are offering new things as we continue to grow. Our membership has grown, and it’s become the hub for folks to socialize,” she said. “We’re all keeping an eye out for each other and hoping to create the best place for people.”
Although she couldn’t specify the total amount of growth the center’s seen since the pandemic, she said that there are new members coming in every month.
“We found out we should no longer be a hidden gem; we found out how important we are to the community with the services we offer and how important it is to listen to your members,” she said.
For those looking to improve their health or stay in shape, the center offers arthritis exercise as well as yoga and Pedal Power classes, according to the center. For seniors with a bit of a competitive side, mah-jongg or bridge sessions are available, as well as art classes or beginning ukulele classes for creative expression.
Starting Aug. 11, the center will begin offering its Museum Crawl where seniors will get to explore three local museums: the Elverhoj Museum, the Amber & Viking Museum, and the Wildling Museum. Each Friday, the center will take 10 members to tour one of the museums followed by lunch at a local restaurant.
“It’s new and exciting what we’re expanding on, not just our physical activities, but we’re working on creating a lecture series,” Albertoni told the Sun. “We have a fall lecture series touching on different health and well-being [topics] for seniors dealing with different things they’ve asked about, and we’ve opened it up for our community to come in.”
The series kicks off on Sept. 12 with Kandice Hawes and Sue Taylor from Farmacy to present a lecture about medicinal cannabis use for active-aging adults.
“This lecture will offer seniors who are new to cannabis with accurate, evidence-based information that will help them make informed decisions about its potential use,” according to the senior center.
Three additional lectures will round out the series, with the final class in November led by a registered associate marriage and family therapist who will offer helpful strategies in a presentation about senior mental health.
The center’s annual Alisal Breakfast Ride also returns Oct. 29 where guests get a wagon ride to the Alisal Adobe and an Alisal Ranch pancake breakfast. There guests can bid on live auction items with proceeds all going toward the Solvang Senior Center’s new building. Once construction begins, the center’s daily activities will relocate to the Legion Wing of the Veterans Memorial Building—1745 Mission Drive, Solvang.
Email ssctr@verizon.net to RSVP to any of the lecture series; seating will be limited. Visit solvangseniorcenter.org to learn more about the center, to donate, or become a new member.
Highlight
• Santa Maria Regional Transit (SMRT) will operate a new Route 13X (express), which will serve select stops on North Broadway (Highway 135) and neighborhoods along Taylor Street and Donovan Road where there is the greatest transit demand. The new route is in response to increasing ridership, particularly from families and their students who attend Pioneer Valley High School, according to Santa Maria Transit Services. “SMRT has seen a 96 percent ridership increase since the lowest point in the pandemic. Public transit has been particularly popular with northern Santa Maria families and their students,” Transit Services Manager Gamaliel Anguiano said in a statement. The new Route 13X will operate only during the academic year, Monday through Friday from 6:45 a.m. to 5:45 p.m.
Reach Staff Writer Taylor O’Connor at toconnor@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Aug 17-27, 2023.