Services for Newtown seniors are sponsored by the Commission on Aging and are available at the Multi-Purpose Building on Riverside Road in Sandy Hook. For more information about programs offered at the Senior Center call 270-4310.

For information on federal, state and community resources available to seniors, call 270-4330 or 270-4315.

You may drop in at the Senior Center on Riverside Road in Sandy Hook weekdays between 10 am and 4 pm. A hot meal is served at noon for which you must reserve three days in advance.

Newtown has daily door-to-door mini-bus service Monday through Friday. Buses also run all day from the senior center to Sand Hill Plaza. On Fridays, the bus alternates between rides to Danbury Fair Mall and Berkshire Plaza in Danbury (to the new Wal*Mart store on Route 6). Cost is 60¢ each way for the Sand Hill Plaza trip, 75¢ each way for out of town. Call 748-2511 TWO DAYS IN ADVANCE to book a ride and get the out-of-town Friday schedule.

News For Week of

July 7-11

*Please join us on Monday, July 14, from 11 am to 1 pm, for the KICK-OFF CELEBRATION OF TRIAD.

Triad is a three-way commitment of law enforcement senior groups working together to reduce criminal victimization of the elderly and to enhance the delivery of law enforcement services to older persons. The program signing will include the following special guests: First Selectman Herb Rosenthal, CT Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, Congresswoman Nancy Johnson, members of the SALT Advisory Council, members of Newtown Police Department, and Angela Deleon, the People’s Bank State Triad Coordinator.

Additional points of Triad, which is a program of the National Sheriff’s Association (headquartered in Alexandria, Va.), include assessing the need and concerns of our older citizens, leading to a broad dialogue on safety and security issues, being a link with elderly members of the community, combining common sense and imagination, and being a simple but working program.

Join us for this symbolic gesture as a testament of this community’s support for its senior citizens. There is no charge to attend but seating will be limited, so please call for a reservation (270-4315).

This Week’s Programs

*Patricia Harkin from MASS MUTUAL will be visiting the senior center on the second Tuesday of each month to volunteer her services on all FINANCIAL ISSUES. She will be here beginning at 11 am, and her first visit will be on July 8. Stop by to meet her and receive some free financial counseling.

*Last chance: Join us for a SIGHTSEEING CRUISE ABOARD THE SOUTHLAND on Wednesday, July 9. Departure is 7:45 am, and the cost is $58 per person. The bus will travel to Narragansett, R.I., and participants will then enjoy a narrated cruise while visiting Harbor of Refuge, seeing the historic Point Judith Lighthouse, the quaint villages of Jerusalem and Galiliee, and the many islands and inlets of Great Salt Pond. Lunch at The Coast Guard House (entrée choices are stuffed breast of chicken, London broil, or baked scrod) will be followed by last-minute shopping at Raspberry Junction in North Stonington. Contact the senior center to sign up for this trip.

*Join us on July 3 for HOLIDAY BINGO. Wear your best combination of red, white and blue and come celebrate our Independence Day.

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REMINDERS: Has it been a while since you’ve played Bridge? Would you like to learn how? Stop by the senior center any Monday at 10 am for MARY MATERN’S BRIDGE GROUP.

*Marilyn’s at it again – Grab your walking shoes and catch up with her for WEEKLY WALKS AT FAIRFIELD HILLS each Monday at 10 am. She starts each week from Newtown House.

*Ann Piccini from Social Services is at the senior center each Wednesday to HELP WITH APPLICATIONS including CONNPACE, MEDICAL, TITLE 19, REDETERMINATIONS, etc. No appointment is necessary. Ann will be here each week from 10 am to noon.

*Booklets outlining DAY TRIPS FOR 2003 sponsored by the senior center, from week-long overseas excursions to day trips within the region, are now available. Stop by and pick one up. Please remember that all trips must be paid for with ten working days of when you sign up for a trip.

*NEW HORIZONS, a support group for widows and widowers, usually meets at the senior center on the first Tuesday of each month. The next meeting will be on August 5 at 3 pm.

* We will be heading to WESTCHESTER DINNER THEATRE on Wednesday, July 23, for lunch and a performance of Smokey Joe’s Café. Cost is $63 per person and departure is scheduled for 9:30 am. There is limited seating, so call soon to reserve your spot.

*Available to Newtown seniors is a trip on August 13 to VAN CORTLANDT MANOR and a cruise on THE RIVER ROSE. Departure is 8:15 am, and cost is $72 per person.

Our first stop will be Van Cortlandt Manor in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y. Then it’s lunch at Torches on The Hudson, with entrée choices of grilled salmon, chicken marsala or NY strip steak. After lunch enjoy a two-hour cruise along the Hudson on The River Rose. Call or visit the senior center for details about this exciting trip.

Menu For Week of

July 7-11

Reservations must be made three days in advance.

Meals are subject to change.

Monday: Cheese baked ziti with tomato sauce, turkey sausage, fresh zucchini, Parmesan cheese, Italian bread, diet fruited Jell-O with topping;

Tuesday: Herb baked chicken quarters, buttered noodles, broccoli florettes, whole wheat bread, V-8 Juice, peach crisp with peanut butter topping;

Wednesday: Seafood salad plate (seafood salad with lettuce and tomato), marinated beet salad, Portuguese roll, cantaloupe;

Thursday: Spaghetti and meatball in sauce, tossed salad with Italian dressing, garlic bread, Parmesan cheese, ice cream;

Friday: Shrimp-corn chowder, unsalted crackers, lemon-pepper fish, taartar sauce and ketchup sides, green beans, tater tots, dinner roll, fresh fruit.

 

Activities Schedule,

July 7-11

Monday: AM Pinochle, Bridge, art class, walking group (at Newtown House, Fairfield Hills), chair exercise class; PM yoga, sewing (RSVP volunteers), HMO help (by appointment), Gentlemen’s Club;

Tuesday: AM Pinochle, exercise; PM bowling (at Brookfield Lanes), financial counseling;

Wednesday: AM line dancing, Pinochle, Social Services help with applications;

Thursday: AM exercise, Pinochle, yoga; PM crafts, bowling (at Brookfield Lanes), The Golden Notes Chorus, Holiday Bingo.

Friday: AM advanced mah jongg, sewing, quilting; PM knitting, beginner’s mah jongg.

 Remember, you must call three days in advance to book a meal or a ride, 270-4310; the Senior Bus, 748-2511.