Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer

Wan Shien Yeh Lee, center, put on her bobby sox and dance shoes for the weekly ballroom dance class held at the Cupertino Senior Center. The class, attended by approximately 40 seniors, spent the next two hours learning steps to the American Rumba.

Senior center: Full steam ahead

Center's membership has more than doubled

By GEORGE MOORE

It has been a year since the Cupertino Senior Center opened its doors to its new 15,000-square-foot facility--three times the size of its predecessor. Membership has more than doubled, and many more programs, classes, activities and services have been added since it opened.

"We're still growing," said Julia Lamy, recreation supervisor at the center. "But we filled this building up pretty quickly in one year."

The new facility was built on the same site, so it still has beautiful Memorial Park as its neighbor. The old center had a multipurpose room, one small classroom and a small conference room. By comparison, in addition to a large multipurpose room that can be divided into three rooms, the new center has a large exercise room, a large craft room, two lecture classrooms and a computer technology lab with 16 computers.

Lamy said exercise programs are the most important activities to have at the center to promote good health. She said the exercise room is in almost constant use from 8 a.m. to sometimes 6 p.m., with one class scheduled right after the other.

"There's very little downtime, and most of the classes are filled to capacity," Lamy said.

On a recent Tuesday morning about 15 seniors were taking part in a low-impact aerobics class; others were playing doubles Ping Pong; a computer class was in session; and Bob Allen was leaving a meeting held for Better Part, a video production group.

"I've made a lot of new friends here," said Allen, a 30-year resident of Cupertino who has been a member of the senior center since 1996. Allen takes part in the production of half-hour videos that are shown on the public access Channel 15, taping a variety of things in the community that are mostly geared toward seniors.

According to Lamy, more than 20 new programs or services were added last year. Some of the new programs include ballroom dancing, mah-jongg class and free play, English Conversation classes, PC and Mac classes, Ping-Pong, and Sunday concert performances. Many of the classes are run in conjunction with De Anza College and the Fremont Union High School District Education Program. Staff-run programs at the center include the computer classes, senior socials, lectures and special events.

It is not required that seniors live in Cupertino to take part in the center's activities--roughly 1,600 of its almost 2,800 total membership are Cupertino residents. The Asian American membership grew from having only 136 members in 2000 to more than 700 in 2001.

"Our outreach is still growing," Lamy said. "And we're hoping to raise that number even higher."

According to Lamy, yearly membership to the center is only $12 and the majority of the classes and activities are free for all members. The center offers many free social service programs for seniors, regardless of membership, including blood pressure checks, legal consultation and weekly housing appointments.

Robert Reinecke, who has been a member for the past four years, said he planned on taking advantage of free income tax advice at the center. In the past he has taken a bridge class and Italian language class and wants to sign up for a Macintosh computer class.

Activities for non-English speakers rose from 10 in 2000 to 44 in 2001. Lamy said the center is offering more programs that are multilingual, and is in the process of buying a translating machine that would simultaneously translate--with the help of volunteers--presentations and lectures in a way similar to the United Nations. Lamy said it would work both ways--with Mandarin presentations translated to English.

"The majority of our programs integrate as much as possible, and you have to break down that language barrier in order for integration to happen," Lamy said. "One of our long-term goals is to continue to do that."

Lamy said many of the center's staff members are multilingual, including Teresa Mo, recreation coordinator, who can speak fluently in Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin and English. Front desk volunteers also speak a variety of languages and the monthly newsletter is printed in both English and Mandarin--a necessity to help a large number of its members know what is going on.

"It's just a wonderful asset to the Cupertino community," Lamy said. "We're seeing it with the numbers [of participants] that it's being well received, and we're excited about that."

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The Cupertino Senior Center is located at 21251 Stevens Creek Blvd. and can be reached at 408.777.3150.

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