Kennedy Seniors’ Recreation Centre is hosting five days of free activities next month, and North Delta-area residents are invited to come and check out all the facility has to offer.
From Tuesday, Sept. 3 to Saturday, Sept. 7, the centre is hosting its 10th annual Passport to Kennedy, with a plethora of free activities for adults aged 50 and over.
Visitors can explore Kennedy's wide range of instructional programs including computer training for all levels, Alzheimer Society of British Columbia's Minds in Motion, Active Aging Society's Choose to Move, Spanish lessons, Hawaiian dancing, line dancing, watercolour and acrylic painting, and many more.
Plus, the week will include drop-in programming like pickleball, table tennis, bingo, dealer’s choice card games, canasta, mahjong, card making, photography, snooker, ceramics, knitting, carpet bowling, cribbage and woodworking.
From 10 a.m. to noon each day, volunteers will be giving tours of the air-conditioned facility (which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year), highlighting amenities like its large banquet hall with sprung dance floor, snooker room, lounge with fireplace, wood shop and craft room with pottery kilns.
Other highlights for the week include free daily prize draws and a barbecue lunch on Friday (free tickets can be picked up at the Kennedy on Sept. 4).
“We’re the best kept secret in Delta, and seriously it’s amazing how many people don’t know we’re here,” Dave Quick, board member with the Kennedy Seniors’ Society and the centre’s director of travel and marketing, told the Reporter ahead of last year's event.
“What we’re trying to do is get the information out there about all the different activities that we run.”
The full open house schedule is available online at delta.ca/kennedy.
The centre's Café Eighty-Ate will be open daily until 1 p.m., with staff cooking up delicious meals for modest prices (typically between $5.50 and $7.50; cash, debit and credit card accepted). The café also carries a large selection of frozen meals guests can enjoy at home.
“As a society, we’re geared towards providing age-limited activities and resources for seniors, whether they’re mobile or immobile,” Quick said, adding “we try to keep the costs down to the barest minimum.”
Annual memberships are $25 (free for those age 90 and over), and drop-in activities cost 35 cents a session (20- and 50-activity punch passes are available). Bus tours, dinner-and-dance events and other larger-scale outings typically cost $25-$30.
The centre also offers a free one-day guest pass that gives first-time visitors access to the Kennedy’s drop-in activities, and a $5 guest pass that lasts one week.
Located at 11760 88th Avenue, the Kennedy Seniors’ Recreation Centre is open Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 8:15 p.m., and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
SEE ALSO: Volunteers urgently needed for Delta dementia support program
SEE ALSO: Surrey elder 'conversation' starter hits silver milestone
