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photo provided by Barberton Active Adult Center
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photo provided by Barberton Active Adult Center
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photo provided by Barberton Active Adult Center
Donna White joined a new community when she really needed companionship and activities to fill her social calendar.
“My husband passed away, and a friend of mine asked me if I would like to join them at the senior center,” says the Akron resident. “So she started me going, and it’s a good thing, because I would have been in my house alone.”
That was two and a half years ago, and now, White is a regular at the Barberton Active Adult Center, where residents and nonresidents alike can become members and enjoy activities like meals, workout classes, trips and more.
Joining the center introduced her to so many things that she now likes that she hadn’t done with her late husband, such as going to concerts with friends.
“I was married to him for 63 years. We did everything together,” she says. “I didn’t go out without him, and he didn’t go out without me. So this was a new experience for me.”
She has also met many new people and has made close friends. She is grateful for the center’s many activities that get her out of her house nearly every day.
“I joined the senior center at a real down time in my life,” she says. “They helped me so much.”
She shares a few ways getting involved in a community center can help you.
Useful Skills
Through the center, White has improved not only her mental health but also her physical health. There is at least one exercise class offered every weekday, whether a stretching class focused on helping arthritis, a workout class with dumbbell exercises set to music or a line dancing class. She credits the exercise classes for her great mobility.
“I can walk real well. I don’t take a lot of medication,” she says. “I am 85 years old, but everybody says they can’t even tell I’m 85 because I do this.”
Participants get moving through many other activities too, such as bowling on Wii Sports. But the center encourages working out your brain as much as your muscles.
Some classes, such as the Tech Your Knowledge series, teach older adults about evolving technology.
“They show us how to work your phone if you’re not really able,” White says. “We’re all older, so that was a good thing for us.”
Other activities include a book club, a Bible study and a woodworking class where older adults can learn how to use tools and build original pieces.
Fun Times
The center’s activities aren’t all work and no play.
Older adults have the chance to play euchre, billiards and bingo and attend holiday activities while socializing with other members, and they also have fun options for meals. They can join the Lunch Bunch, a group that meets at a local restaurant each month, or they can join Lunch and a Movie, where they can watch films like “Hamilton” or “Hidden Figures” after eating lunch with friends — an activity that White really enjoys.
She also loves going on trips with the center. She’s gone to see plays, baseball games and more, and she’s gone on a day trip to Amish Country. She recalls some of her favorites, such as seeing “Godspell” at Kent State University’s Center for the Performing Arts and cheering on the Akron RubberDucks at a home game. The center also offers trips to cross-country destinations and parks.
Concerts are an unexpected favorite activity for her, and she’s seen performers like La Flavour and Gerald Harris, who she was very impressed by.
“He’s a performer,” she says. “It is something we probably wouldn’t primarily do if it wasn’t through this.”
Forever Friends
White emphasizes that she has gained several friends through the center. They enjoy carpooling to the center’s trips together.
“I’ve met so many wonderful friends,” she says. “When I leave here, I’ll pick up a couple of our girls on the way. The oldest one’s 86, and the youngest one’s probably 81 — us girls.”
She explains that many of them are going through the same things in life. “We’re all in the same position where we lost our husbands,” she says.
She recommends others join to experience that camaraderie. “You walk in there, and everybody speaks to you,” she says.
Despite living in Akron, she has formed close relationships with members of the center and spends most of her time in her new community that has gotten her through a lot.
“I say that Barbertonians adopted me,” White says. “It saved my life. I really, really believe that.”
Residents and nonresidents 50 and older, $22-$27 annual fee, 500 W. Hopocan Ave., Barberton, cityofbarberton.com
