Folks 50 & Better draw, paint, create crafts, play bingo at Portland Avenue Community Center
If you like free bingo, stop by Metro Parks’ Portland Avenue Community Center on a Tuesday afternoon.
If you’d like to try your hand at painting and drawing, or enjoy sewing and crafts, drop in to the Portland Avenue center on a Tuesday or Thursday morning.
If you’d like to make some costume jewelry or fix a broken brooch or necklace, go to the Portland Avenue center on the third Tuesday morning of the month.
If you’d like an inexpensive hot meal, drop in to the Portland Avenue center at noon on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
At least twice a week, Metro Parks’ Portland Avenue Community Center, 3513 East Portland Ave., Tacoma, is a haven for folks Fifty and Better (FAB). No need to register in advance. Just come on by.
Instructor Elsa Sanabia starts her art and craft classes at 10 a.m. On third Tuesdays, recreation specialist Bonnie Elliser offers jewelry-making and repair expertise beginning at 9:30 a.m. Art and craft classes are free. The jewelry classes are $2.
Catholic Community Services provides lunch at noon. The Portland Avenue center is one of 17 Catholic Community Services meal sites throughout Pierce County. If you’re 60 or older, each hot meal is $3. Younger people pay $5.75.
On Tuesday afternoons, bingo begins at 1 p.m. Admission is free; World Vision donates most of the prizes. On a recent afternoon, they included iPod stereo speakers, a Keurig coffee maker and child’s football uniform, with helmet and ball.
Most of the people who frequent FAB programs at the Portland Avenue center come early and stay at least through lunch. A few more troop in on Tuesday afternoons for bingo.
Sometimes, the sewing machine gets an emergency workout for clothing repair. “We do whatever we can do to help people get on with their lives,” Elliser said.
It’s congenial atmosphere. “The people are super, super nice,” said Luisa M. Lawrence, one of the regulars. “This is the only activity I do. This is my outlet. I like doing things with my hands.”
Another regular, Josefina Corral, said she makes jewelry for herself and for friends. When she travels to Mexico to visit relatives, she’s surrounded by jewelry admirers. One after another, individuals blurt out: “Oh, I like it.” So, inevitably, the necklace or earrings or brooch she wears becomes a gift to someone else. It’s an incentive to return to the Portland Avenue center to make more.
At the Portland Avenue center, bingo is bilingual. Elliser, the caller, delivers English and Spanish numbers through 29, joking that she’s never been able to wrap her tongue around the Spanish pronunciation of bigger numbers. So when Elliser’s tongue fails, Sanabia is kind enough to translate her English.
Bingo winners take prizes home or give them away. Around Christmas time, the prizes attract bigger bingo crowds because they make excellent presents for family and friends, Elliser said.
Elliser first offered jewelry-making and repair sessions through Metro Parks about three years ago. More than a year ago, it got a big boost when Judy Shoudy moved from Tacoma and gave the program a cache of jewelry-making supplies. Now Elliser comes to each session with a tackle box full of beads, wires and hoops.
“It’s not precious jewelry. I don’t do silver or gold. Too expensive,” Elliser said. But she can help turn an orphan earring or broken brooch into a pendant. She can show you how to turn old-fashioned, clip-on earrings into new-looking, French hoops. Or replace a cumbersome clasp with a simple fastener. “I try to repurpose as much as possible,” she said. “Why throw it out if you can make something else out of it?”
What: Fifty and Better (FAB) activities
When: Tuesdays and Thursdays
Where: Portland Avenue Community Center, 3513 East Portland Ave., Tacoma
Cost: Bingo and arts and crafts classes are free. The jewelry program is $2. Catholic Community Services provides hot lunches for $3 or $5.75, depending on age.
For more information: Call (253) 278-1475 or send a message to BonnieE@tacomaparks.com