Senior Center recognized for blazing trails in senior programming

Above: Southborough Trailblazers are based out of the Senior Center, but they don’t contain their adventures to it. (images from Facebook)

The Southborough Senior Center received national recognition for excellence. The category they won in “innovative, creative, and replicable programs” seems natural, given the program’s name – “Trailblazers”.

The Trailblazers was one of 16 Senior Center programs in the country recognized in the category by the National Institute of Senior Centers.

The group describes itself as seniors who work together to develop activities throughout the year to meet the needs of a more active senior. It’s run through a collaboration between volunteers and staff. Past adventures have covered hiking, snowshoeing, ropes courses, biking, horseback riding and more.

The group holds monthly planning meetings which are open to all. They take place the first Wednesday of every month at 3:00 pm. That means, there’s a meeting coming up on April 4th. Perhaps their news will inspire more people to join them.

If you’re interested, here’s what to expect:

During the meetings, you will be able to share your interest, assist in researching activities and costs, review and evaluate the programs after completion and a lot of idea sharing! It is the intention to be an inclusive group being mindful of a moderate to more strenuous activity level.

Now, here is the Senior Center’s press release boasting of the group’s acomplishment:

Southborough Senior Center Honored for Innovative Senior Program
Trailbazers named a 2017 NISC Program of Excellence

Every day across the country, older adults visit to their local senior center to connect with friends, learn something new, discover how to stay healthy, give back to their community, and more. This year, the Southborough Senior Center has been recognized by the National Council on Aging’s (NCOA) National Institute of Senior Centers (NISC) with a 2017 Programs of Excellence Award for its Trailblazer Program. Southborough Senior Center was one of sixteen programs honored with the annual recognition for innovative, creative, and replicable programs for older adults.

This program provides opportunities for seniors to participate in active programs with others who enjoy hiking on local trails, bike trails around New England, snowshoeing, kayaking, paddle boarding, and many other programs that are planned by the group. This is a collaborative volunteer lead program coordinated by Mary Ann Anderson and is supported by the Senior Center staff.

The programs are nominated, and winners are picked by a NISC Committee of senior center professionals. Awards are given to programs in seven categories.

“The Senior Center is an important destination for seniors in Southborough, and we work hard to keep our programs fun and educational for our members,” said Pam LeFrancois, Southborough Senior Center Director. “We are honored to receive a NISC Programs of Excellence award, and hope that other senior centers across the country will be able to replicate the Trailblazer program to benefit their members.”

For more information about Southborough Senior Center and its programs for older adults, visit www.southboroughseniors.com. To see a full list of the 2017 NISC Program of Excellence Award winners, visit www.ncoa.org/NISCAwards.