Senior citizens getting back to community events
Butler brothers Tom and Gene McLaughlin have been attending more events over the past few months.
Particularly, they make it a point to go to as many events and dinners at the Tanglewood senior center as they can.
“Every time there is one, we come back,” Tom McLaughlin said. “It's better than doing the dishes at home.”
Charlie Roche, manager of Tanglewood Center, said the events hosted by the center have been gaining popularity ever since it closed for a few months in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. One of the center's most popular events is the monthly pork chop dinner, which Roche said gets about 600 attendees each time.
“We've been doing them since last June,” Roche said. “People have been coming back more and more.”The Butler County Agency on Aging lists the hours for senior centers around Butler County. The Agency on Aging is open daily from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tanglewood is open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Chicora is open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays in the Moose Lodge Hall Basement.Cranberry is open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at the Township Municipal Building. Evans City is open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays at Ritzert Hall. Mt. Chestnut is open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Mondays at the Mt. Chestnut Presbyterian Church.Slippery Rock is open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Slippery Rock Municipal Building. The Winfield Township Fire Hall is open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursdays in the southeast.The Agency on Aging has also been streaming live workout videos from Facebook as another way of keeping seniors engaged.Masks are not required to be worn in Tangewood, but some people attending wore them while waiting in line or milling about the cafeteria. That didn't stop the smell of a well-balanced meal from penetrating the nostrils of everyone in attendance, however.Shirley Schubert, a resident of Butler, said she has been getting out to more events with her family recently as well, such as the monthly dinners.
“We have been coming to as many as we can,” Schubert said. “There have been quite a few.”According to Roche, the center is hosting more events than last year, but some events that had been rescheduled from last year are filling in some days that normally would be available.“A lot of the events this year are make-ups from last year,” Roche said. “We don't have anything in August because we rescheduled so many things.”McLaughlin said he has noticed the crowd getting bigger at the pork chop dinners.“They're coming back pretty good,” Tom McLaughlin said.The Tanglewood Center hosts pork chop dinners from 3 to 6 p.m. the first Wednesday of every month, and senior citizens may eat in or order carryout, according to Roche.
