Senior center offers food, fun and friends
Published 8:00 am Thursday, November 26, 2015
Clifford Schneider is a ladies man.
He’s known around the Federal Way Senior Center for getting gals on their feet to groove — and occasionally dipping them.
“Lori, over here, I dance with her. Pat, over there, I dance with her, Lee, I dance with her, heck yes,” he points to various women at the senior center on a recent Friday morning, as a live band serenades a handful of dancing seniors. “It makes me like a teenager.”
The 77-year-old Milton resident has been coming to the senior center for about six years on Fridays to do what he loves to do best.
“Dancing,” he said, noting he comes from a German family, who enjoyed moves such as the Dutch hop. “I love dancing, I’ve danced all my life. I quit dancing for years and I just got back in. My wife, she’s handicapped and she encouraged me to start dancing, so I turned her down but then I went ahead and now I can’t stop.”
During the morning, he danced the two-step with Shelley Puariea, the senior center’s new executive director. Puariea said it’s volunteers such as Schneider who make the senior center such a special place to visit.
But as she’s met with volunteers and senior center members over the past several weeks, she’s said she’s discovered the center’s biggest challenge — the facility is Auburn and Federal Way’s best kept secret, she said.
“Right now, since I’m new coming in, we’re trying to get more people to know more about the senior center because so many people have said they don’t know about it,” Puariea said, who previously operated the Federal Way Boys & Girls Club before she came to the senior center. One issue involves the center’s location.
“This used to be in Federal Way,” said Char Ashcraft, the senior center’s associate director, noting when she moved to Federal Way in 1969 the center was located in that city. “But when the city annexed, then this part became Auburn and is now three blocks outside of the city of Federal Way. The center’s been in existence for 35 years.”
Ashcraft said the Federal Way Senior Center kept its name with the transition but it has an Auburn address. “But Auburn has a senior center and sometimes there’s confusion about that. There’s a really well-funded senior center in Auburn — the city [of Auburn] funds them.”
Another challenge the Federal Way Senior Center faces is funding. The center receives a nominal nutritional grant from the city of Federal Way of nearly $19,000 per year. Puariea said the grant pays for the center’s full-time chef and a part-time kitchen staff for one day per week, however, the funds from the city do not take care of most of the center’s needs.
Over the years, the center has relied mostly on donations and volunteers to keep it going.
One of Puariea’s goals is to get the word out about the senior center so more seniors age 55 and over are aware of all the hidden treasures the center has to offer.
“Everyone here, they come to maintain relationships and build friendships and get involved in the community,” she added. “People tell me this is their happy place. Every person that you talk to, they’re really bright and still want to be active and involved and they’re all helping and volunteering.”
Fun, food, friends
Joan Tofstad, 78, plays songs on the piano such as “Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue” and “Side by Side” in the corner of the senior center’s cafeteria, as she recalls her beginnings at the senior center. The 78-year-old Auburn resident has been playing the piano at the center since 1989, when her neighbor suggested she play at the center.
“I like the get-together, the camaraderie,” Tofstad said. “You know what music does to people, I just can’t describe what it does to you — you can’t get it anywhere else.”
That’s why twice per month, residents from various assisted living facilities come to the center to get their fill of music. On that afternoon, two private adult family homes from Auburn came out to celebrate Kiku Mooie’s 90th birthday. Mooie sat with other residents at a table with her birthday cake set up as they tapped their toes to the music.
Senior center members also come to enjoy one of the best lunches in town. The center serves an average of 150 lunches every week. The center’s gourmet cook Donna San Jose serves up a hot lunch from 11:30 a.m. to noon every weekday. There is a suggested $3 donation for members and $4 suggested donation for non-members.
The center also offers many activities, from dance classes and walking excursions to sewing and social bingo.
Federal Way resident Curt Beech volunteers at the center on Wednesday, when they offer social bingo at 10 a.m.
“What we mean by social bingo is that we don’t charge for the cards, everything is free and the prizes are just absolutely priceless,” said Beech, 67. “They range everything from a dozen eggs to chocolate cake, to cupcakes, to all kinds of festive sweet things.”
In between each bingo card, Beech tells members “really bad jokes” and trivia questions.
“What do you get when you cross a policeman with a skunk?” Beach asks. “Law and odor. And what do you call a fake noodle? Im-pasta.”
Other hidden treasures
The center also offers a food pantry that is open from 8:15-11 a.m. on Mondays and Thursdays and serves over 500 people per week. The food pantry serves those in need who reside in zip codes 98001, 98003 and 98023.
Federal Way resident Mike Riley, a food pantry volunteer, said food recipients have to sign up for food pantry membership, however, there is no age limit.
Families can select from milk, eggs, cheese, bread, pastries, canned and frozen goods, fresh produce and meat.
“We let them pick,” Riley said. “Most other food banks you don’t pick; you are handed a box.”
The senior center also sells gently used household goods and other knickknacks at the Treasure Chest, where Ashcraft volunteers when its open from 8:15-11 a.m. on Mondays and Thursday.
She added that “every penny raised” at the Treasure Chest goes to the senior center, which is always seeking donations.
And seniors who want to learn new computer skills can come by the center’s computer lab, which offers classes from Facebook basics to navigating the Internet. Jim Lee, 83, began volunteering at the computer lab and repairing computers in 1998, when a friend asked him to teach a computer class.
“I need something to do then because I was retired anyway, you get bored,” said Lee. “It keeps me busy. It gets frustrating once in awhile, but if I don’t stay busy, I’m going to start getting old — I don’t want to do that.”
The senior center is located at 4016 S. 352nd St., Auburn. For information, call 253-838-3604.
