Senior Program Thanksgiving Luncheon
Eighty seniors celebrated Thanksgiving a little early on Tuesday, November 26th at the Gloria J. Parks Community Center on Main Street. Canisius College’s food service vendor, Dining by Chartwells donated a full course Thanksgiving Luncheon to the members of the Gloria Parks Senior Program. Chartwells not only donated and prepared all the food, but also provided several staff members to serve the meal.
This is the second year of partnership between the University District Community Development Association, which operates Gloria Parks Community Center, and Chartwells. Associate Director at Gloria Parks Michael Tritto acknowledged, “We are so grateful to have a community business partner like Chartwells. We could never afford to provide such a high quality, restaurant grade Thanksgiving celebration for our Seniors without the Chartwells generous donation of this event. Some of our seniors have family out of town, and this may be the one Thanksgiving meal they have. Everyone really appreciates that Chartwells made this possible.”
The event was held in the Senior Dining Room of the community center. The event included a full-course catered turkey dinner with chocolate cake for dessert. The Senior Program hosted Pastor Lawrence Moore of East Gate Community Church who gave the blessing and Evangelist Linda Mims, of Trinity Baptist Church, who gave a brief lesson about gratitude and life’s blessings more broadly. Several Gospel songs were performed by Pastor Valerie Foye, who works by day at Gloria Parks, and senior program members, Valerie Gardner, Wanda Spencer, and Geraldine Aljuwani. Senior Program Director Phyllis Caver stated, “Our program really is a community of people that care for each other, that create a second home for each other. We all have a lot to be thankful for this year.”
The Gloria J. Parks Senior Program serves 400 active seniors annually. Seniors can choose from many activities including hot lunches provided by Erie County, fitness classes including Hustle for H
ealth, Stretch Band Exercise, Get Fit While You Sit, and Tai Chi, Computers for Seniors classes, bingo and other games, field trips, and special events, like this luncheon.
Membership in the Gloria Parks Senior Program is free. For more information, call Senior Program Director Phyllis Caver at the Gloria J. Parks Community Center at 832-1010 ext. 206.