A club for seniors and retired members of our parish became a real requirement when the COVID pandemic started. The pandemic had been hard on everyone. With members falling sick, fear and panic gripping everyone, there was a big need for mental health support for everyone going through these hard times. As restrictions on gatherings started to ease down this year, the first thing that came to my mind was the mental support and needs for the elderly. With children going back to school, and young adults back to in-person jobs, the elderly needs still stood out as a missing gap in our community.

Our parish consists largely of first-generation Indians who rely mainly on our parish community gatherings to network and come together. We come together to worship and later gather in the basement to get to know each other and catch up with day-to-day events. Starting a club where our seniors can come to network and have games on the first Saturday of every month was a proposal initiated by Marian Mothers but our entire Parish Council agreed to this proposal and helped in giving our SMCB basement and facilities for the club.

We hope to continue with this initiative and add more events based on the choices of the members. I do hope to play Saint and faith-based movies every month, as that was my first proposal. But as agreed by everyone, we are ready to play movies based on the popular demand and needs of the viewers. We welcome donations of a few popular board games like Carrom Board and other games that our seniors would like.

Anyone willing to join our seniors for games and movies are also welcome. Those who would like to donate prepared food for our seniors, please send it with ingredients and name.

Thank you so much for making this a success.