'You could see that they were so excited': Senior Socials help older residents stay active

FALL RIVER — The pandemic has been hard for older residents, many of whom were cut off from peers and neighbors as COVID-19 raged. Greater Fall River RE-CREATION will host its third and final in a string of “senior socials,” aimed at helping older residents socialize and stay active, at the end of the month.

“Overall, it’s a wonderful event. You can see it in their faces when they’re up and dancing or just sitting and listening to music that they used to listen to,” said Grace Gerling, the organization’s director.

While much of their programming focuses on young people, this isn’t the first time Greater Fall River RE-CREATION has organized events specifically for older residents. Gerling said they’ve hosted senior socials in the past, but that came to a temporary halt in 2015, when they moved to a new facility that needed serious renovations, especially to its gymnasium.

“It’s taken us a little while to fix up the building. It needed a lot of work,” she said.

But now, the new gym is ready to host events that have been paused since 2015 or that were held at other facilities, including judo, soccer, basketball and the senior socials.

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The next one is scheduled for noon to 3 p.m. on Friday, May 27, at 45 Rock St. It will have a Mardi Gras theme.

The free event includes lunch and live music from a four-piece band that plays songs from the big band era and by artists like Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett.

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More than 50 people came out to the one in April, Gerling said.

“You could see that they were so excited to be amongst other seniors that they might not have seen in a while,” she said.

Audrey Cooney can be reached at acooney@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Herald News today.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Fall River RE-CREATION offers Senior Socials with live music, dancing