Seniors at the Marine Park Older Adult Center (MP OAC) were in for a special treat on Valentine’s Day with a lineup of fun activities, a special guest, and gifts and prizes to make the day extra special at the festively decorated Carmine Carro Community Center, 3000 Fillmore Avenue, on February 14th.
“Valentine’s has to be every day and life can be so short and can be so long; it all depends on you,” Councilwoman Mercedes Narcisse said in her greeting message to everyone. “So for everyone in this room, I challenge you as a nurse, not elected official, as a nurse — your heart is the most important organ in your body, so you need to take care of it.”
She advised the seniors to not let others stress them out, have love in their hearts and to be happy. She then spread some love and happiness by handing out bags of heart-shaped pasta as a small token of gratitude to show her appreciation to the seniors for keeping Marine Park and the surrounding neighborhood thriving, according to a Facebook post she made that day.
The seniors are better known as “active adults” because they truly are. A full schedule of activities was planned to keep them on the move as they took part in line dancing, tap, chair ballet and table games before lunch and then ended the celebrations with a special game of Valentine’s Day Radio Bingo, which included gift bags for the winners filled with fun prizes like little stuffed animals or small boxes of candy.
“Radio Bingo is like regular bingo but with music instead,” explained Program Director Jonathan Turovets. “It’s kind of like trivia mixed with bingo, so you have to know the name of the song to cross it off your bingo card.”
According to MP OAC President Raymonde Limbaugh, the Valentine’s Day celebrations have been going on since the Carro Center opened about 12 years ago.
Millennium Development Supervisor of Older Adult Services Patricia Lynch said that they work with the NYC Department for the Aging and get discretionary funding from councilmanic program funds in Narcisse’s budget.
“She’s a really big supporter of all our older adults,” Lynch said, giving credit to Narcisse’s background as a nurse, which she said makes her compassionate. “She cares about all the older adults in our district and it really shows in how much she cares about all of us.”
Millennium Development Deputy Director Penny Caquias agreed, adding praises about how the councilwoman goes around to every table to greet everyone and is also fun because she will join in on the activities.
Caquias also praised 63rd Precinct Community Affairs Officer Tom Podd who also supports them by providing his presence at such events.
About 90 to 100 active adults attended the Valentine event. According to Turovets, there are about 3,500 current members at the MP OAC who show up for about 1,000 classes and different activities throughout the year. There are plenty of indoor and outdoor activities, as well as trips, concerts and special events that go on yearlong. Approximately 30,000 to 40,000 members are served annually if you count attendance at all the activities.
Four out of nine of Millennium Development’s OAC centers were celebrating Valentine’s Day that week and the Carro Center, which is one of the largest centers, was an example of just one of those celebrations.
The Millennium Development Older Adult Center programs staff, in partnership with Narcisse and support from the 63rd Precinct, made it a special day filled with love for the seniors at the Carro Center.
To learn more about Millennium Development’s programs for seniors, visit their website at https://www.milldev.org/active-adult-centers.
