FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Here are some recent EngAGE news flashes:

Contact:
EngAGE 
Tim Carpenter
Executive Director
(818) 563-9750 fax (818) 563-9315
tim@engagedaging.org

WHITTIER SENIORS BENEFIT FROM EXERCISE CLASSES
OFFERED BY EngAGE 

WHITTIER, Calif. - Celine Porte shows up twice a week at SEASONS at Whittier, dressed in a black leotard and toting exercise equipment and a boom box. Her students - all residents of the senior apartment community located on Washington Boulevard - slowly file in to the clubhouse and take seats. The music starts, and suddenly torsos begin twisting and stretching, arms and legs moving to the beat and Porte's repeated command, “one more!”

Welcome to the chair exercise class, one of several education and wellness activities offered to SEASONS residents under EngAGE , an innovative supportive program for seniors living in affordable apartment communities.

EngAGE  programs are designed to give low-income seniors an opportunity to continue growing intellectually, creatively and emotionally. Programming focuses on activities that stimulate the mind, body and spirit, to achieve more active engagement in life, help prevent illnesses that could require more costly types of care, and promote residents' ability to continue living healthy and independent lives.

The EngAGE  program serves a total of more than 2,000 low- and moderate-income seniors living at communities located in Ontario, Anaheim, Duarte, Pomona, North Hollywood, Norwalk, Whittier, Azusa, Fountain Valley, Huntington Park, Long Beach and Norwalk. Programming currently includes college-level educational classes, health and wellness programs, bus service, creative arts programs, recreational activities, health education, a food bank, volunteerism, intergenerational mentoring programs, and many others.

LINC Housing, owner of the 160-unit SEASONS property in Whittier, decided to partner with the program after seeing how it has improved the lives of residents at other senior communities throughout the area.

Porte's chair exercise classes, launched in December, have achieved notable results. One SEASONS resident, 86 year-old Carmelita Mata, hasn't missed a class yet, and now relies much less on her walker than she used to. “I feel great, and have a lot more energy,” she says. “I'm doing more things than I used to, and get out more. No one is going to sit me down,” she adds.

That kind of enthusiasm is music to Scott Darrell's ears. As Vice President of LINC Housing - itself a well-respected nonprofit owner and operator of housing affordable to low and moderate-income seniors - Darrell understands the need to keep seniors actively engaged in daily life.

“By providing an active environment where the emphasis is on personal fulfillment and continued engagement in life activities, we want to show seniors that there really are no barriers to living as full and busy a lifestyle as they want,” Darrell said. “That's a real change for many low-income seniors, who often struggle on a daily basis just to survive”.

“It's a great package of amenities many other so-called 'retirement' communities just can't match-it costs residents nothing to participate, yet it can make an enormous difference in the quality of life we, as a developer, want to provide them,” he said.

For more information about EngAGE , to make a donation or to volunteer, phone Tim Carpenter at (818) 563-9750, or by e-mail at tim@engagedaging.org