Guest Comment

By DR. MARY ANN SPANOS

Executive Director

Chautauqua County Office for the Aging

May is not only the time to celebrate the arrival of spring but it is also the month we dedicate to celebrating Older Americans. I want to take a moment this month to talk about a wonderful resource we have in Chautauqua County: Our Seniors.

We are so blessed in this county to have a rich network of senior groups who are meeting regularly all over this county. Whether they realize it or not just by their very existence they are helping the mission of Office for the Aging, which is to keep older people well, active, and engaged in the community. This month I had the pleasure of joining several groups for their Spring Fling and Mothers Day celebrations, each had more than 100 participants. We danced, enjoyed music, food, games and most important the company. Let me tell you our seniors know how to plan a good party and have fun.

Linking all of these groups together and acting as a liaison between seniors and Office for the Aging is the United Senior Council (USC). If your senior group has not sent a representative to this council, I would urge you to do so or at least get on their mailing which is sent out monthly by Office for the Aging. The OFA and I usually attend USC which meets at varying locations each month to make it easier for all senior groups to participate. OFA relies heavily on the United Senior Council to get information to seniors and to get opinions on the events and programs we are planning. In addition to being an information source for senior groups, USC also plans fun events like their fall workshop taking place in October this year and their annual dinner dance. It’s wonderful to see seniors from all over the county coming together for these events. For more information about the United Senior Council or to acquire a meeting schedule, contact Office for the Aging (753-4471, 363-4471, or 661-7471). All seniors are welcome.

In addition to participating in senior groups, older Americans make up the majority of our volunteer work force, not only in Chautauqua County but across the country. Volunteers are a resource that can not be measured in dollars despite attempts to do so. It seems to me that as people retire from the paid work force they are committing a large portion of their new found "free-time" to give back to the community and help those less fortunate. I want to tell you how much this is appreciated not only by the Office for the Aging but by all the organizations in our county. We could not run all our programs and serve the large number of individuals that we do without all these dedicated volunteers, both young and old. But since this is Older American's month a special thank you to all the older volunteers who could be spending their free time at the beach but instead are delivering meals, acting as ombudsmen, giving rides to medical appointments, helping with taxes or many of the other volunteer tasks. If you would like more information on volunteer opportunities contact OFA at the numbers above or the Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) at 665-3038 or 366-8070 Stay well!