Trick or Treat

Yesterday, kids from our bilingual Pre-K program dressed up and went trick or treating around CISC. For most of them, this was the first time they had experienced Halloween. The looks on their faces when they realized that all they had to do was say, "trick or treat" and people would give them candy... priceless!

As part of our efforts to connect the generations, the kids ended up their trick or treating at Sunshine Garden. The seniors there had already prepared for the event with their own Halloween celebration, arts and crafts. They exchanged candies with the kids for beautiful autumn leaves that they took home to decorate with.

All in all, it was a fun morning. Even when we overheard one girl telling her friend how she didn't know if she could carry any more candy her bag was so heavy!

Bridging the generations - Sunshine Garden seniors and Pre-K children celebrate Halloween together

Wii Bowling

Not to be outdone by CISC staff, who held their first Wii bowling tournament last month, Sunshine Garden Seniors decided that it was time for THEM to learn how to do this virtual bowling thing too.

It took a little bit of practice, but soon we had seniors making strikes and spares galore. Not only were they happy to have a new form of entertainment, they also liked the physical activity involved as well.

Now it's bowling, next time, who knows? Maybe it'll be hula hoops - or skeet shooting!

Community Travel Ambassador training

In our Sunshine Garden Senior Day Care program, our staff works hard to help Chinese seniors lead active, healthy, and mobile lives. In that spirit, Sunshine Garden staff member Andes Kong has completed a Community Travel Ambassador Training course, sponsored by Sound Transit, King County Metro, and Hopelink. Community Travel Ambassadors are trained to help seniors, low-income individuals, people with disabilities and those with Limited English Proficiency access appropriate forms of available transportation. Now the approximately 120 seniors who come to Sunshine Garden will have better assistance than ever when they need to see friends, go to the doctor, or just do a little shopping.

Christmas at Sunshine Garden

The Sunshine Garden seniors enjoyed the holidays and celebrated some December birthdays with their own Christmas party. Things really got festive with a visit from Santa Claus himself. Happy New Year from CISC!

Sunshine Garden Funding Restored!

Last Friday, the Seattle City Council announced highlights of the anticipated 2011-2012 City budget, which will be formally adopted on November 22nd. Funding was restored to a number of human services and community centers that were facing cuts, including the City funding for Sunshine Garden. Thank you to our many community supporters! All the petitions signed and online comments left for the City Council truly made a difference in the lives of our seniors.

You can read more about the budget at the City Council website.

Efforts to Save Sunshine Garden

As many of our supporters know, the City of Seattle cut its funding for the Sunshine Garden Senior Day Care program from the 2011 budget. Our Sunshine Garden staff has been working with many community supporters and volunteers to collect signatures supporting the restoration of Sunshine Garden's funding (see our Facebook page). The support has been overwhelming! They collected more than 2,400 signatures from the community, with 7 local businesses helping to collect signatures and more than 60 votes and many comments of support on a City Council website for submitting ideas from the community.

CISC staff also made a 5 minute presentation at the City Council budget hearing on October 26th, with the help of a family member of a client. The final budget will not be adopted until November 22nd, so there is still time for the City Council to reconsider the decision to cut Sunshine Garden's funding.

As a former Sunshine Garden worker commented on the City Council website, "From my working experience, I can tell you that all the Chinese elderly treat the center as their second home in US. In the center, they can find their sense of belonging, friendship, care and support. Without the center, they have no where to go to seek support."

To learn more, please contact Andes at andesk@cisc-seattle.org or 206.624.5633 x 4121.

Update on 11/12: To watch the video of the budget hearing, click here. The Sunshine Garden presentation is during 200:06-205:17 of the video. 

Halloween at Sunshine Garden

The seniors at Sunshine Garden had some special visitors this Halloween: a trick-or-treating CISC preschool class, and some students from Lakeside School to help them carve... well, not pumpkins, actually. Take a close look and you'll notice that they are carving oranges. Halloween, Sunshine Garden style.

Certified

Congratulations to Sunshine Garden Lead Worker Andes Kong, who just received her AIRS Certificate! This is a professional credential for human services employees who are trained to help connect clients to the services they need. She joins CISC staff members Stephen Lam, Boliver Choi, Meiyu Cheung, and Cathy Lee in holding the certificate.

Summer Field Trips

Following up on their recent Light Rail trips, the Sunshine Garden seniors have been busy this summer exploring different neighborhoods by public transportation. They've taken advantage of some wonderful historic bus tours to visit Snohomish for the town's annual Kla Ha Ya Days festival in July, and Snoqualmie in August for the railway museum and Snoqualmie Falls. They've also been to the Museum of Flight and Woodland Park Zoo.

These trips have been a great way for the seniors to keep up on all the transportation options that are out there, and enjoy some highlights of the neighborhoods and towns they wouldn't normally visit. 

104 and Still Learning

Hearing about the success of Sunshine Garden's field trips to SeaTac Airport via light rail, one of our more elderly clients decided that she too wanted to learn how to get to the airport by public transit.


104 year old Mrs. Lau requested that CISC staff lead another field trip to the airport to see how easy it was to get there by light rail.

Even though she has no immediate travel plans, she wanted to learn how to go - just in case.

Kudos to Mrs. Lau and all the other seniors of Sunshine Garden who never give up on improving their physical and emotional health, independence, fellowship, and lifelong learning!

Lavender Sorbet

Once again, Sunshine Garden seniors were treated to another culinary delight by volunteer cooking instructor, Christine Ho.  This month's treat was Lavender Sorbet.

Non-fat, no dairy, and easy to make!  Only 5 ingredients, and one of them is water!

This summertime treat is sure to be a hit with all our friends and neighbors. If you'd like the recipe, contact Andes Kong at andesk@cisc-seattle.org

Better yet, sign up for next month's cooking demonstration (must be 60+).

Sunshine Garden Celebrates "Bite of Dragon Boat Festival"

On June 16th forty elderly from CISC's Sunshine Garden Senior Day Care Center participated in the "Bite of Dragon Boat Festival".  The event was part of a seasonal Chinese celebration program at Sunshine Garden to celebrate some of the more popular Chinese holidays.  The participating seniors had the opportunity to try over ten different traditional Chinese dishes related to the Dragon Boat Festival from different provinces all throughout China.

 Look at all of this delicious food!

Events like "The Bite of the Dragon Boat Festival" are just some of the activities that CISC provides for immigrant seniors and helps them to gradually ease in to their new lives in America by providing culture that is familiar to them.

Fall Prevention Certificate Course

The Sunshine Garden Senior Day Care center at CISC is working with Senior Services to hold a fall prevention course in Mandarin. The program, known as "A Matter of Balance," is an award-winning program designed to manage falls and increase activity levels.

The 8-session class is being held every Wednesday from 1-3pm at the International Family Center-Seattle, at 611 S Lane St., starting on April 7th. A $15 fee for the workbook and snacks will be charged. 

For more information, please contact Andes Kong at 206.624.5633 x 4121.

Riding the Light Rail

To address the new changes in bus stops at Sea-Tac Airport and the extended service of the Light Rail to Sea-Tac Airport, staff and volunteer's from CISC's Sunshine Garden recently led a group of 20 seniors to the airport by light rail.

As more than 20 seniors are still on the waiting list, another trip will be scheduled in April. Seniors over 60 are welcome to join, but advanced reservation is required.

Warm Scarves for a Chilly Winter

Winter has undeniably arrived in Seattle, and everyone seems to be talking about the cold weather recently. So there was no better time for the Scarf Knitting Group at CISC's Sunshine Garden Senior Day Care Center to warm up our community a little with some scarf donations in recent weeks. Over the Thanksgiving holiday, New Beginnings, an organization providing support to victims of domestic violence, and CISC domestic violence clients received some of the Group's hand-made scarves, hats, and socks. The seniors also recently donated some of this winter clothing to the International District Housing Alliance, an organization that provides low-income International District residents with community-building and housing-related services.

Jack-o-lanterns

In the spirit of the season, Sunshine Garden seniors learned how to carve jack-o-lanterns this morning, creating masterpieces, each with their own individual personalities.



And of course, the ladies insisted on saving the seeds to roast and enjoy later!

Public Transportation

Big changes in public transit, especially in SE Seattle and SW King County.






Last Friday, representatives from King County Metro and Sound Transit spoke in front of nearly 100 community members on light rail, bus services, ORCA, and the In-Motion Program.


Lots of questions and concerns expressed by attendees who had not heard about these changes.






Seems like we're not the only ones.

Fire Safety

Last week, Bill Mace from the Seattle Fire Department came to talk to seniors about home fire safety.

Did you know that there were over 400,000 home fires last year, costing almost 3,000 lives and causing 13,500 injuries? And that the largest cause of these fires by far was from cooking?

Smoke alarms (with functioning batteries!), an escape plan, and attention while cooking - a few of the simple things you can do around the house to keep yourself and your loved ones safe!

Never leave pots unattended on your stove, or you may end up with one looking like this!

Fighting Fraud

Congratulations! You've won our big prize! All you've got to do is give us your social security and bank account numbers...

OK. So maybe they're not quite that obvious, but scam artists often sound legitimate and it's easy to be fooled.

Last week, representatives from the AARP Fraud Fighter Call Center came to Sunshine Garden to educate our seniors on fighting fraud.

Many con artists target seniors over the phone. There are even specialists who conduct their work in Mandarin or Cantonese.

If you think you are a victim of fraud, call the toll free number at 1-800-646-2283. Leave a message and someone will call you back in your language.

For volunteer opportunities, call 206-517-9353 or e-mail waaarp@aarp.org

Fan Dance Tai Chi - correction

Oops! The clip of the fan dancers posted 8/20 was not at North Bellevue, but a program of Sunshine Garden, in conjunction with the ID/Chinatown Community Center.

Our Eastside fan dance tai chi class is held in Factoria. For more information, please contact Cathy Lee for Eastside cathyl@cisc-seattle.org or Andes Kong for Sunshine Garden andesk@cisc-seattle.org


These photos are from the Eastside.

Thanks staff for setting us straight!