Come In and Cool Off With Us!

If temperatures in July seemed especially sweltering, it wasn’t your imagination. According to scientists, several days were likely the hottest in Earth’s modern history, as a surge of heat across the globe shattered temperature records from North America to Antarctica.
But summer is far from over, and we’d like to remind everyone that the La Pine Activity Center is a cooling center. That means you and your loved ones are welcome to come inside and get out of the heat. We’re open five days a week, Monday – Friday, from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
While you’re here, we’d love it if you join us for lunch, or try out our other regular activities such as exercise classes (including Yoga with Michelle, Balance & Bones, Fit for Life, and Body Groove) and bingo (scheduled for Monday nights and Tuesday afternoons).
We especially urge those who are still in Covid mode, and reluctant to leave their homes and mingle, to enjoy the Activity Center’s hospitality. People of all ages — not just seniors – are welcome to sit on the couch, work on their laptops, read a book, or just socialize. There’s always someone who would appreciate a friend.
When we first opened up as a cooling center last summer, after temperatures reached 100 degrees, our air conditioning went out. It was horrible! We’ve since purchased a new A/C system, which I’m happy to say is working well, and keeps the inside of the Activity Center nice and cool.
The idea of offering a cooling center initially came about when we realized that a lot of people in the La Pine area may not have A/C — some of them can’t afford a larger bill for power. And as we’re always here to try and help people in our community who are in need, providing a place to rest and refresh made sense.
(The Activity Center is also available, inside and outside, when wildfires or other disasters result in evacuation orders.) And remember, per the Oregon Health Authority: All Oregonians are asked to check on vulnerable friends, family, and neighbors who may be susceptible to extreme heat to help them access ways to stay safe – especially those who live alone or lack air conditioning. Signs of heat stroke include fever, rapid pulse, nausea or vomiting, and hot or damp skin. OHA advises people to call 9-1-1 immediately is someone shows signs of heat stroke.

Happy February!  Here’s the latest news at the La Pine Activity Center!
We had a meeting on January 17 with Cheryl Puddy, Program Officer from the Oregon Community Foundation, Chaney  Coman, Grants Manager from the Roundhouse Foundation, and Jenny Green from the Oregon Arts Commission.  Over 25 people attended this meeting, which was about getting some grants to cover the costs of our much-needed kitchen upgrade.
Our two large ovens aren’t working and at this time we’ve been using alternate cooking methods.  We bought $600 worth of parts to keep us going, and we’re going to be applying for a grant for the ovens, and another for the remainder of the kitchen remodel.
We need new stoves, ovens, steam table, our walk-in cooler needs new parts, new flooring is needed so our seniors don’t trip on our mats, and we also need a new dishwasher.  That’s a big list of items, so one of our board members, Meredith Strunk, has taken the role of grant-writer and we hope to submit these soon.
We had 96 people attend our Veterans lunch, sponsored by Stu Martinez, on January 19!  We still need sponsors for April and May, so contact me if you’re interested.
We’re also having an Early Bird membership drive and right now we’re offering memberships for only $35 a year (that’s just $2.92 each month) if you sign up during February, March or April.  Your membership is important — whether you come to the Center or not — because it helps to keep this place open. For instance, our gas bill last month was $1190…it used to be $399 for a month.  We currently have about 200 members and we want to remind local businesses that they can be members, too!  
And look at what benefits our members get:  a safe, warm place with WiFi, free classes including line dancing, body groove, healthy walking and strengthening, reduced price yoga classes, card games, computer technical support, bingo twice a week, 20% off a room rental once a year, and an informative monthly newsletter emailed to each member.  And even if you’re not a member, everyone is welcome to an affordable, healthy, and delicious lunch served three days a week!  So join today!
Our upcoming Rhubarb Festival planning is in full swing. We’ve already got 25% of our vendor spaces reserved and paid for!
That’s all for now — I’m going to on vacation but will be back mid-February, so keep coming to the Center and I’ll see your smiling faces when I return!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope this new year will be one filled with fun and informative activities and events at the La Pine Activity Center, for everyone in our community!
First off, I would like to thank St. Charles for their very generous donation of $5,000 to our Center, which makes them a legacy donor! We are excited to build this lasting relationship with St. Charles to help our seniors!
I’m in the process of getting plaques made for each person (we had 65 sponsors!) who paid $50 each to sponsor a bumper for our newly-paved parking lot. That’s 65 inductees into our Bumper Hall of Fame!
We are already getting calls from prospective vendors for our 2023 Rhubarb Festival, to be held June 17 and 18. This two-day event is sure to be a fantastic time for our community!
We are starting up our 2023 campaign to get local businesses to advertise in this newsletter, as sponsors for the Activity Center. Please, if you know of any business that would like to be featured here, let us know and we’ll reach out to them.
I’m having a box made to be placed on our front counter, for suggestions on what benefits we can offer people who become members of our La Pine Activity Center. I would like to find out why they come in, and what they would like to see that they have not seen offered here. Right now, Center members get a warm building in the winter, AC in the summer, internet access, a chance to socialize, do crafts and games, eat lunch, play bingo, attend parties and dances, find out about health and senior resources, and get discounts on classes we offer. But I’m trying to figure out more benefits we can offer (10% off room rentals for members, for example).
So please stop by or call the Activity Center and let us know what YOU would like to see happen here; we are open for the WHOLE community, not just seniors! And HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy Holidays!  Christmas is right around the corner, and the La Pine Activity Center couldn’t be busier with tons of December activities for our community!
Our first Winter Traditions Craft Bazaar held November 25-27 at the La Pine Parks and Recreation building went very well!  One of our center volunteers, Amy Hill, who owns Hillstead Farms  in La Pine, put together all the decorations and did an outstanding job!
We had a total of 51 vendors from as far away as Portland! One of these, Outta My Gourd, actually became Center volunteers, helping to set up and take down after the event!
A BIG thank you goes out to  Lori and Jerry Scott, Janice Delzer, and Dave Ott, who were indispensable to us with all they did.  
I estimated that the first day of the event we easily saw 400 to 500 people stop by; in fact, some vendors paid for their booth rental in the first hour!  
Newport Avenue Market in Bend bought $5800 worth of sugar-free jams, taffy and other products from vendor  Outta My Gourd, an amazing day for this vendor.
The Winter Traditions Craft Bazaar saw quite a few new vendors, too, some from the valley, Klamath Falls, and lots of Rhubarb Festival repeats. There was Purple Door Creations from Gilchrist,  Betty Summers floral arrangements had two booths, and had the best  showing at any festival she’s ever done.  Deer Wood Designs from Portland had five or six tables and did very well.  Natalie Blair from Cup-N-Cake Creations by Natalie, a cottage home bakery right here in La Pine,  provided cake pops, cocoa bombs and other fresh treats.
As a result of this festival, we have over 200 vendors on our list now for future events!
In other news, Jenny Pedersen, Community Librarian with the Deschutes Public Library, will be starting free sessions to help people with their legal questions at the La Pine Activity Center on the first Thursday of the month from 10-noonish (while Thrive is there or longer if needed). She will be starting this in either January or February, 2023.
A big THANK YOU goes out to Stu Martinez, who is going to be sponsoring a free veterans lunch once a month from January to March in 2023.  We are excited to be able to have these free lunches to show our appreciation for our location veterans.
That’s all for now – have a wonderful holiday season and see you in 2023!

It’s the start of the holiday season, and things couldn’t be busier at the La Pine Activity Center!
I wanted to give everyone an update on something that I talked about last month in this column.
Last month, I found a gentleman waiting for me in the lobby who had driven here to find out more about a bereavement class we had held at the Center. He had recently lost his wife, and told me that he had decided he wanted to leave this earth; he was lonely, afraid and felt useless.
After we spoke, I called Heart N’ Home Hospice, and within 30 minutes, they had someone from Bend here talking to this gentleman. They had given him some resources to help with his situation.
Well, I just learned that he is now moving in with his daughter, who will be taking care of him! This story has a happy ending, thanks to the wonderful services we have in our area!
In other news, thanks go to St. Charles for their donation of 40 food trays for our kitchen, and we also received about 28 food trays from First Interstate Bank in Sunriver, so thanks go out to them, too!
Another big thank you to Stu Martinez for his generous donation that will go towards replacing our furnace. We have a bid for $5500 to replace it, and we’ll also be selling Christmas wines at our upcoming Winter Traditions, to help with this fundraiser. Please visit our Facebook page, which has a Gofundme link if you would like to help with this.
The upcoming Winter Traditions has been moved to the La Pine Park and Recreation building, so make sure to stop by there November 25 through 27. It’s going to be an amazing event, sponsored by Ace Hardware!
Our Bumper Hall of Fame sold out at 64 new bumpers for our parking lot – THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!
Our recent Paint Night saw 35-40 people here at the Activity Center and was a huge hit! Our Bingo nights are seeing up to 60 people attend, as well!
The Christmas Basket distributions will be held at the Activity Center on December 10.
Please note that our Winter Hours have changed to 10am to 3pm, Monday through Friday.
Our parking lot paving is just about done and I want to give a shout out to Vic and Vicki Russell, who donated $20,700 for this huge project! Other major donors were Stu Martinez, the Young Family Business, and the City of La Pine. It’s people and businesses like these and others that step up to the plate and make the La Pine Activity Center THE BEST SENIOR CENTER IN OREGON!

A few of you have noticed the use of our new logo. Our new logo welcomes people of all ages to join activities held at the Center. The name of our building has changed several times since the beginning, but the formal name has and will always stay the same: La Pine Senior Citizens, Inc. This logo makes it clear that all can participate and help support our seniors; we are not changing who we are, who we serve or what our focus is. Our focus is and will always be the good of our Senior Citizens!
This new logo is not about changing who we are. It’s about welcoming more support and assistance for those that we serve. Our building has always welcomed anyone of any age, but the public didn’t know that and as our community grows, so do our needs. As our needs grow we need a larger group for support. The support comes in various ways. We need more involvement in events, we need more volunteers, we need our community just like our community needs us. Please know we will always focus on our Senior Citizens and we will always be La Pine Senior Citizens, Inc. We are just being more visible to the entire community.
That said, I would like to let you know about something that happened in late September at the Center. I arrived on a Monday morning to find a man waiting for me in the lobby. He had driven to La Pine that morning because he had heard we had a bereavement class held at the Center. He had recently lost his wife, and was just wanting someone to listen to him. I sat with him and learned that had decided that he wanted to leave this earth; he was lonely, afraid and felt useless.
After we spoke, I immediately called Heart N’ Home Hospice here in La Pine. Within 30 minutes, they had someone from Bend here at the Center talking to this gentleman, and by the time they emerged from one of our conference rooms, he was smiling! They had counseled him and given him some resources to help with his situation.
This kind of thing happens at our La Pine Activity Center more often than most people realize. Someone needs help of some kind, and they feel that our Center can assist them. We refer those in need to the appropriate community resources, and this service is just one of those that truly reflect what we do as an organization: we feed people, we refer them to local resources, we provide free classes and clinics, and we listen to people’s stories.
Keep on coming to the Center, we’re here for you!