By Rich Bockmann
Senior Appreciation Week is getting old.
Now in its 10th year, the annual celebration of southeast Queens elders kicked off this week as elected officials planned events for the young at heart.
“This has become a tradition and a legacy in the community and something we can be proud of,” state Assemblyman William Scarborough (D-St. Albans) said at the Roy Wilkins Family Center in St. Albans last week to announce the schedule. “We celebrate senior week for a simple reason — to let our seniors know we appreciate what they have done and what they continue to do for this community.”
Every year, elected officials come together and plan a week full of events — such as state Sen. Malcolm Smith’s (D-St. Albans) senior-appreciation lunch or Sen. Shirley Huntley’s (D-Jamaica) “Oldies but Goodies” luncheon — to show the older generations a good time.
The tradition was started, Scarborough said, by Smith and U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-Jamaica), who this year scheduled an afternoon of movies at the Jamaica Mulitplex Sept. 12. All of the elected officials who participate usually gather to announce the schedule, though a number were serving as delegates to the Democratic National Convention last week and were unable to attend.
In their absences, office staffers — the people who did the grunt work of actually putting the events together — took just a bit of the spotlight normally reserved for their bosses as they announced each event.
City Councilman Ruben Wills (D-Jamaica) scheduled a karaoke and Zumba Fitness event from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Rochdale Village community center Sept. 12.
Because Sept. 11 fell on a Tuesday, thus pushing the state primary back to Thursday, no events were planned for either day.
The schedule for Friday featured a senior-informational series hosted by Councilman James Gennaro (D-Fresh Meadows) at the Queens Community House in Forest Hills from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and a jazz concert at York College from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. hosted by Councilman Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans).
Scarborough planned a bowling day for Sept. 17 at JIB Lanes in Flushing.
Reach reporter Rich Bockmann by e-mail at rbockmann@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4574.
