The Township Center offers the community many services such as passports, vehicle stickers, temporary handicapped parking placards, emergency assistance, notary and more. In addition to those convenient services, the Township Center is now the heart of senior activity for those 55 and better. We offer a variety of programs and events on-site and day trips to explore local theatres and venues. Our goal is to enhance the quality of life for the senior citizens in our community.
I’d like to share one of our most recent inter-generational programs. Grass Lake School’s 5th and 8th grade classes have partnered with our Antioch Seniors as part of their Project-Based Learning initiative. This initiative was created by the students to promote inter-generational communication and connections within our community. Renee Mehring, Antioch Township Director of Senior Services, helped guide the students to their project titled, “Your Life, Your Legacy.” The students brainstormed ways for seniors to share their stories, they started back in December by introducing themselves to seniors during one of our Township events. The students explained who they were and what they intended to do, asking the seniors and Renee if they would be interested in joining their project. Renee and the seniors were very excited to sign up and did so without hesitation and looked forward to the interviews. The students worked hard crafting open-ended questions and worked on their interviewing skills throughout December and returned to the Township Center for the interviews at the end of January. On that day, the students got the opportunity to meet with a senior one-on-one or in pairs to interview the senior about their life and their advice. The group of 25+ seniors will be receiving videos, books, and/or audio presentations of their interviews with their Grass Lake student interviewers when they meet back up in March at the Township Center. We are so excited that these students and our seniors had the chance to connect and collaborate with one another. We look forward to seeing the final product and the lasting memories our participating seniors will get to share!
Soup & Stories
Soup & Stories was another well received program that took place in our beautiful community room at the Township Center this past January. Our seniors enjoyed delicious soup from The Vegas Café while listening to Chicago Stories from the 1920’s by the very talented Martina Mathisen and to top off this wonderful program, Nancy Colby, one of our seniors, brought props and her own paintings of Al Capone to set the scene. This is another example of the wonderful senior programming and activities that are offered at our Township Center.
God Bless Antioch and the USA,
Tom Shaughnessy
Antioch Township Supervisor
