Seniors enjoy a golden afternoon

Independent seniors stop to smell the roses at Fellows Riverside Gardens.
By JOHN SKENDALL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Beatrice Horne, 86, of Boardman still lives at home, cooking spaghetti and roasts, doing laundry and cleaning her house. But the widowed senior, along with many other clients of the Volunteer Services Agency in Youngstown, looks forward to her yearly picnic and stroll through the roses at Fellows Riverside Gardens.
Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Youngstown, Horne and more than a dozen other seniors got out and about Wednesday, walking lush gardens, free of the rain, and socializing with others lucky enough not to need a nursing home or full-time care.
Horne is a heart-attack survivor who still does everything at home for herself, except mow the lawn and climb ladders, she said.
"I thank God every day," said Horne, a five-year client of the Faith in Action care service. Volunteers drive her to the store and to her regular doctor's checkups.
Her son, of East Palestine, is there whenever she needs him, and her daughter from New Jersey stays in touch, but Horne, who no longer drives, said it is nice to dress up and get out of the house.
Wednesday's picnic at the Gardens marked the 11th year for the event. It's held at the D.D. and Velma Davis Center, the new center for education, town preservation and special events.
What they do
Rotary members transport the volunteer-care clients to the gardens, serve them lunch and treat them to the stroll through manicured lawns and rows of colorful blooms. About 20 of the 350 clients in the independent-care program attended.
This year, the showing was mostly women -- bright eyes and all smiles -- who haven't lost their sense of romance.
"They tell me, 'It's been a long time since I've walked in a garden on the arms of a man,'" said Mary Cochran, executive director of Park Vista Retirement Community and Rotary coordinator for the Gardens picnic.
The trip means a lot to the people who attend. "We get a lot of repeats," Cochran said. People call months in advance wanting to come to the yearly June picnic.
This year the guests received a complimentary pot of pink and purple impatiens. In the past, they have heard storytellers or helped plant flowers at the gardens.
About the program
Maureen Drummond, program director for Volunteer Services Agency Inc., said the clients in their program are 60 and over and have long-term health issues.
"Some days are better than others," Drummond said.
Clients receive daily "telephone reassurance" calls, giving them someone to check in with in case they need a ride or just someone to chat with.
The mission of the volunteers is to see that the seniors maintain their independence happily and comfortably. They do not provide personal medical care.
"So often, a friendly call or an outing to a place many of our clients haven't experienced in many years, has a profound impact on their sense of self-worth and emotional well-being," Drummond said.
Horne said she attends the yearly Christmas parties and enjoys visits to White House Fruit Farm and the Youngstown Playhouse.
The volunteer service helps to beat the "four-wall syndrome" that can plague people who live alone or are homebound, Drummond said.
The seniors are relatively quiet on the way to the gardens, she said, but there is constant chatter on the buses taking them home.