By Vern Holmquist
You may not have considered it, but one of our best tourist attractions is the Mount Angel Senior Center. During Oktoberfest, it is so crowded one can hardly work his way through it at times.
It would be hard to find a store offering more in the way of hand-crafted items or, as I prefer to think of them, love-made items, so many examples of skilled, crafted work.
A look at the guest book attests to the appeal the store has to out-of-town visitors. It is another thing Mount Angel can be proud of.
The senior center is important to local seniors who drop by for a good, hot lunch served on Tuesdays and Thursdays. If you are 60 or older, you can get a tasty, hot meal served by volunteers. The meals are very important to those of us who are tired of fixing their own meals and eating them in solitude. For those among us who can no longer prepare healthy meals at home, the senior center can make home delivery five days a week with frozen meals to get you through the weekend. You will find the volunteer drivers are sincerely interested in your welfare.
All this talk is about the services available, but perhaps for some seniors what is even more important is conversation with others. The senior center is a place where you’ll hear the local news, have a chance to express yourself, find some good listeners, and with a few more of you visiting, we may be able to have a little Bingo game again. A little tip, there is a free meal ticket available at the desk.
Remember, the senior center is staffed by volunteers so if you have spare time you would like to donate time to a worthy cause, the center can use you. It is gratifying labor.
The Mount Angel Senior Center is at 195 E. Charles St. The phone number is 503-845-6998.
