Trips to Governor's Island

Last summer we filled a bus on two successive Fridays for trips to Governor's Island, which is reached via a short free ferry ride from lower Manhattan. Our members enjoyed exploring the island as well as the beautiful weather, and spectacular views of lower Manhattan. We were able to view the Statue of Liberty and enjoy a nice lunch. Governor's Island also offers free bicycle rentals on Fridays, so those who dare can give that a try. Seeing that our members enjoyed the trip, we decided to visit again this year.

Dorchester's Anniversary Party

Happy Birthday to our Senior Center! With all your help and support we just turned 37! We had our annual celebration of Dorchester's founding back in 1973. Yes, it has actually been 37 years. Our members just keep coming back, and we welcome them with open arms. To celebrate our anniversary we hosted a party. Dorchester invited our very friendly DJ Mario, who got just about everyone dancing. Even those who are normally very attached to their seat left it for a good dance or two. We had delicious food, great decorations and the members themselves created a wonderful atmosphere. That sure was a party to remember. With such great feedback, we're hoping to last 37 more years and 37 more after that, and so on. Dorchester hopes to continue working with you to be the place that you'll love to return to every day.

Arts and Crafts

Our center provides activities that everyone can enjoy. Our art loving future Picassos love the Arts and Crafts sessions, with our teacher Gitana. She is not called "The Creative Diva" for nothing, I tell you. She had our members make cards for all occasions, and even the least artistic of us created something we enjoyed. The technique she uses is very different. And it makes our members proud to make things that you will not see on any store shelf. Gitana also helped us to create paper and pen holders, boxes to hold your possesions and other wonderful hand-made crafts that members get to take home and share with their families. Believe me, once you see a finished product you'll think your eyes are fooling you. So, come on down and see for yourself. Gitana returns in September; we hope to see you then.



You can also visit Gitana's artist weblog at http://gitana-thecreativediva.blogspot.com/

Senior American Idol Contest

Did you ever want to show off your talents? Well our seniors sure did! The Dorchester Center hosted our first ever Senior American Idol Contest, and it was a big success. For this shy bunch, nine brave souls decided to entertain us. We came to the conclusion that with age, people start to lose hair or their eyesight or whatnot, but judging from our contest no one lost their singing abilities. They each sang acapella and everyone did a great job. We had two fair judges, and we promise there was no Simon Cowell or anyone that could come close to him. We also let the audience clap for the singer they loved most, and counted the applause as a third judge. The winner was our very own Rufus Stoute! But to us, everyone was a winner. We're hoping to host more similar contests, and we hope you join us for the next one.

Service Fraternity/Sorority Visitors

Our center is very community friendly. And our community gives back. A very kind service fraternity and sorority from Monroe and Hunter colleges visited our center and helped us clean out our closets. Although we do have a staff that takes care of everything- we're always in need of helping hands. These young ladies and gentlemen made lots of effort to make our center a better place. We appreciate that you guys took the time to help us out.

Winter Holidays at Dorchester

During winter behind the doors of Dorchester, there's nothing but warm smiles and holiday spirit. We choose to bring traditions together as we celebrate. Therefore, we prepare holiday lunch for our diverse cultures. This winter, we had a fantastic time during our Korean, Chinese and Hannukah meals. Prepared by our lunch staff and members, we enjoyed a variety of different foods such as the latkas (potatoes), Korean noodles and much more. Our holiday decorations added a touch of joy to our welcoming setting. This is why Dorchester is the warmest place to be on such cold days.

Hong Kong Supermarket Trip

At our center we let people take pride in who they are. That's why we celebrate many traditions and cultures. Today for example we visited the Hong Kong Supermarket, the largest Chinese supermarket in Brooklyn. We've found some foods that we might have never even heard of before. I mean would anyone like some Lingchi Osmanthus Honey Beverage? Or how about some Sambal Oelek? Well when you do have a craving for some exotic foods join us on our celebration of many cultures that exist in our center, and the world.