Senaka Samarasinghe
With the arrival of the 2020, Sri Lankan 55+ Group called for a get together on Saturday Jan 25 at Access Building in Fort Garry. Thirty-six members participated. During the winter season, the Group assembles at the indoor Access Centre, whereas in summer, they select an outdoor location for their monthly gathering. The main event of the January session was to watch a Sinhala movie, The Frozen Fire, followed with potluck lunch.
Suni Matthews was invited to lunch to talk about the integration of the Sri Lankan 55+ Group with similar organizations. Over the past year, more than ten members of our Group participated in exercise and yoga classes conducted by South Side Community Fitness and Fellowship (SSCF&F) at Trinity United Church on Summerside. Suni is the chairperson of SSCF&F. She is conducting these sessions on Mondays and Thursdays. On Mondays time is allotted from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. for exercise and 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. for fellowship. Thursdays there is one hour, from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. assigned only for exercise.
Sri Lankan 55+ Group thought to expand this service among more members and looked for similar sessions during weekends. On weekends, children can provide rides for their parents/elders. Based on this objective, Trinity United Church obtained two free slots on the second and fourth Saturdays, starting at 9:45 a.m. at TUC. This opportunity will be announced among our members to make use of this outreach.