Senior Center announces 15-Week Club, extends invite to new members

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The scene inside the nationally-accredited, award-winning Johnston Senior Center’s spacious multi-purpose room resembled a mini-production line, as a group of staffers and volunteers continued to stuff letters into envelopes.

“What’s going on?” a man queried while approaching Tony Zompa, the center’s executive director. “Hey, are you having another special party?”

To which the smiling Zompa replied: “Well, I suppose you could call it that.”

What ladies like center dietary manager Brenda Martin and valuable volunteers like champion bowler Linda Benoit – and a dozen or so other people – were actually doing was stuffing notices into envelopes, to be mailed to center members announcing the second annual 15-Week Club.

“The Johnston Senior Center will be embarking on another 15-Week Club,” Zompa said. “The first drawing will be held on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2015, and subsequent drawings will be held weekly for 15 weeks paying winners $25.”

While Zompa admitted it’s not exactly the Lottery or Megabucks, he did note: “This is a fun drawing to help raise money for programs that are not part of our annual budget. And all those programs are valuable and enjoyed by a lot of our members.”

The informational letter also read: “Please consider buying a ticket or selling one to a friend. We will continue the fundraising efforts to support the Senior Center. Please join the 15-Week Club and help make it a success. If a person needs additional tickets, please call the center at 401-944-3343 and they will be mailed directly to you.”

For those unfamiliar with the center, it is located at 1291 Hartford Ave.

Zompa this week also issued a reminder that the center is accredited through the National Institute of Senior Centers Unit of the National Council on Aging.

“Our motto is, ‘We Are Family and Through Our Doors Walk the Nicest People,’” Zompa said. “We are also accepting new member applications, and we encourage people to stop by the center and pick one up. Our annual dues are only $10 per person.”

And, he explained, “by becoming a member, a person has all center privileges, functions and daily activities, and use of the wellness center exercise room and monthly newsletter.”

The center also coordinates a variety of trips, ranging from a Cruise on the Charles River to Legends and Lake Pearl/Luciano’s and the Newport Playhouse.

There’s also a travel club that will meet again on Sept. 17 to plan an eight-day, 17-meal trip on April 12, 2016, in America’s Music Cities, namely New Orleans, Memphis and Nashville.

Rhonda Sasa is chairperson of the center’s Advisory Board, which includes vice chair Peter Lombardi Jr., Stephanie Gesualdi, Joseph Quartino, Peter Susi, Gena Bianco and Mary Cerra.

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