Little House Center Changes Its Focus

Center seeks a younger crowd, but senior services will remain

By Rebecca Wallace
Almanac Staff Writer

The Almanac, July 16, 2003

At a recent class about enneagram testing, a personality assessment, about 100 people in their 30s, 40s and 50s, packed the place. Then there was the "Understanding Islam" discussion and the Spanish class. Coming soon: belly dancing.

Does this sound like a senior center? Absolutely, say the staff and volunteers at the Roslyn G. Morris Little House Senior Center in Menlo Park.

Make that the Roslyn G. Morris Little House Activity Center.

Faced with a declining membership, a deficit, and a desire to serve a broader base of people, the venerable Little House, run by the Peninsula Volunteers for decades, has expanded its focus. The Peninsula Volunteers have changed the center's name and done away with its 50-and-up age requirement.

Last fall, the center started offering evening classes to supplement its "traditional" senior activities, which include mahjong, arts and crafts and ballroom dancing. Evening topics have been as diverse as Asian art and "The Problem of Evil in Society." A recent weekend session covered retirement planning for baby boomers.

"We're hoping to attract people who are still working and other younger retirees who simply don't look at themselves as seniors," Little House director Janice Pierce said. "We wanted to take any stigma away, where you think you have to be 75 or 80 to be here."

Ms. Pierce acknowledges that enticing younger people will be a challenge, but she said, "If the topic is interesting enough, they will come."

But will older seniors, the population that Peninsula Volunteers has served since 1947, still come?

Peninsula Volunteers president Leslie Wong said no existing programs will be cut and that the group will still serve older seniors, who might also enjoy the new activities. "Seniors these days are more active," she said.

Audrey Hargis, a 12-year volunteer with Peninsula Volunteers, said attracting younger people is healthy for Little House and will allow people from different age groups to mingle in all the activities.

She added with a smile in her voice, "You can play bridge from 10 to 100."

As the economy has slumped, drawing donations has become difficult for Peninsula Volunteers, driving them to attract new Little House members and participants.

Membership at Little House is $40 a year. Non-members can participate in the goings-on, but they pay more for the activities that have a fee. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, when fewer services existed for seniors, Little House had about 2000 members, Ms. Pierce said. Now the number is about 1,350.

Donations were easy to come by when the Peninsula Volunteers launched a major campaign in 1997 to benefit Little House and its other facilities. Those include the nearby Rosener House, which has specialized services for people with dementia, heart disease and other conditions.

"Now they just say, "Thank you, no," Ms. Wong said of potential donors.

Other senior centers are also gearing themselves more toward younger people. Avenidas, a Palo Alto senior center, used to be called the Senior Coordinating Council of Palo Alto.

Avenidas ("Avenues" in Spanish) hasn't seen a big drop in membership, but the center has also broadened its focus to serve younger people and today's energetic seniors, said Judith Webb, coordinator of education and recreation.

In August, Avenidas is holding its annual summer fitness academy at Little House, including demonstrations of aerobics and line dancing. The center also has regular lectures by Stanford University professors.

It's all about challenging the traditional concept of a senior center, Ms. Webb said.

"We want to think of it as less to do with pathology and more to do with growth and adventure," she said.

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