Menlo Senior Center Reaches For Younger Audience

Baby Boomer influx causes Little House to think bigger

By Scott Banerjee
Special to the Chronicle

Friday January 2, 2004
San Francisco Chronicle

Elaine Jek is a woman on the move. With a sense of urgency, she totes her shoulder bag into the Peninsula Volunteers Little House arts-and-crafts room and spills its contents onto a table. Her latest project is an elaborate silver bracelet with links made of polished 19th century pottery shards she found washed up on a Singapore beach.

The center, in Menlo Park, was founded in 1949 as a senior center. In July, the word senior was removed from its title and minimum age requirements were dropped to lure younger participants.

Jek, 35, who works at a cosmetics shop in Palo Alto, was drawn to Little House because of its well-maintained stone-shaping workshop, or lapidary.

"If you have an idea, you can create it here," says Jek, who often sells her art jewelry at local exhibitions.

She feels welcome at Little House despite being its youngest member. She shows up three to four times a week, taking advantage of fitness classes, such as Reiki and Feldenkrais, or watching foreign films on Thursday afternoons.

Little House's decision to remove minimum age requirements two years ago was part of a plan to answer a challenge facing all senior centers: providing services to the elderly while catering to an influx of baby boomers. Little House has developed a new attitude about what being a "senior" represents.

"For a number of reasons, people are healthier, working longer and staying more active; they don't necessarily think of themselves as seniors," said Leslie Wong, president of the Peninsula Board of Volunteers, an umbrella organization that supports and funds Little House programs.

"The type of senior we see in here is not the type to come in every day. Today's seniors simply have more choices."

The center is offering a beefed-up lineup of classes, such as pilates and hula dancing, as well as lectures on exhibits at San Francisco's Museum of Modern Art and Asian Art Museum. Little House is open on Saturdays and on weekdays until 9:00 p.m. in order to attract working professionals.

Little House has plenty of room to grow in its main building and ample parking. "We still haven't fully utilized the facility," Wong said.

Despite declining revenues in 2000 and 2001, Little House hasn't cut any traditional senior activities, such as bingo, bridge and casino field trips. Senior members pay a $40 annual fee to receive discounts on classes and programs.

"The trick is getting them in the front door to begin with," said Janice Pierce, Little House's director.

Little House's decision is largely a means of economic survival. Membership fees account for less than a quarter of the Peninsula Volunteer Center's $2.2 million total annual revenue, according to its 2002 fiscal report. Two-thirds of Little House's 1300 members are between 66 and 85, according to a 2002 membership survey. But, says Maryam Bolouri, executive director of Peninsula Volunteers, much of the wealth of seniors is in illiquid assets, such as real estate.

"They may be land wealthy, but they can't sell their homes," Bolouri said. "So they have limited amount of cash." This doesn't bode well for fee-based classes and programs.

Bolouri doesn't expect donations or government funding to increase in the near future.

"Between education and state budget cutbacks, and the sluggish economy, we're at the bottom of everybody's list," she said.

But the silver lining in this scenario is that new members such as Jek have discovered Little House.

"I would go more if I didn't have to work as much," she said. "Now I'm happy doing things I enjoy."

LEARN MORE
Little House is open Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Wednesdays and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. The center is at 800 Middle Avenue in Menlo Park. For details call (650) 326-2025.

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Peninsula Volunteers, Inc.
800 Middle Avenue
Menlo Park, CA 94025
Telephone: 650-326-0665
Fax: 650-326-9547