Over the past few years, the DSN Community Center, servicing the New Jersey community, has been offering an array of exercise programs geared toward still active adults—mothers, fathers, and grandparents. A popular class, Chair Yoga, meets three times a week within view of children, as they walk into the Center’s entrance. It’s an incredible lesson for them to see that as they get older, adults still exercise and enjoy it.
“The days of segmenting groups of people by age is over,” said Sammy Sitt, DSN’s Executive Director. “We believe in building community, and what better way than to bring all of the generations together under one roof, to participate in age-specific activities, as well as interact, learn and feed off of each other.”
DSN has expanded its offerings to active adult community members in an effort to create a community town square environment. The emphasis on multi-generational interaction has historically made our community unique. “We learn from each other about life and all sorts of things when the generations are together,” said one DSN member. “I was raised by my parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts, as well as an entire block of neighbors of every age. I am glad to see that we are combining all of the generations together under one roof,” said another.
In addition to the specially focused fitness classes, some of the other programs being offered include group lunches, a knitting circle, cooking for the food pantry, and technology lessons. These expanded programs are designed to foster communication and participation, and to create purposeful socialization for all of our community’s generations under one roof.
“They’ve earned their right to be a part of Community Center programming,” said Sitt. “It’s great to see our community’s most respected age group staying active, healthy and social, right in the middle of the community.”
