Snohomish County News
The Monroe letter carriers, postal workers and volunteers worked hard all day long during the National Letter Carriers’ Food Drive May 9. The carriers and their teams picked up more than 11,300 pounds of food in one day! Sky Valley Food Bank volunteers unloaded and sorted more than 9,000 pounds in one afternoon. The annual nationwide food drive is held on the second Saturday in May. The final total came to nearly 20,000 pounds. The Sky Valley Food Bank donations run very low after the holidays and it counts on this, the largest food drive of the year which helps get them through part of summer months. The food bank is now providing food over 5,000 times per month, at 10 meals each time, nearly double the number from last year. The letter carriers provided note cards and blue bags a few days before the drive and the community filled the bags with food and left them at their mail box. The generosity, kindness, and hard work from all was/is sorely needed especially during these tough economic times. For more information on how to help the food bank, visit www.svfoodbank.org. To find a food bank in your area, call 360-794-7959.
Doug Ramsay photo
Ann Brice of Mukilteo and her granddaughters, Karina Strangeland, 8, (left) and Larissa, 6, check out the grave marker of a veteran buried at the Mukilteo Pioneer Cemetery during the Mukilteo Historical Society’s Decoration Day Veteran Service and Historical Remembrance May 30.
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Snohomish County News
College minus the pressure
EVERETT - The opportunity to enroll in college-level courses without the pressure and stress of writing papers, studying for tests and cramming for finals is now at Everett Senior Center members’ fingertips.
The new program is available through the University of Washington’s education outreach program and is offered to Everett Senior Center members.
The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute of the University of Washington (OLLI-UW) opened its third Puget Sound location in Everett last week.
Courses will be taught by UW faculty and will be held at the Everett Senior Center located at 3025 Lombard Ave.
Alison Koop, education outreach program spokeswoman, said the UW wants to share its resources throughout the Puget Sound region.
Koop said Everett was the next logical location to offer courses.
“It has an active community of seniors,” she said. “It’s vibrant.”
Koop said membership is not limited to people that went to college in the past.
“You don’t have to have gone to college,” she said. “You just have to be over 50 and want to be involved in a lively discussion.”
Members are charged $110 per year plus an additional $10 per course they sign up for.
Deborah Wright, executive administrator for the city of Everett, said economically the classes are a good deal and it’s a good opportunity for center members.
Wright said it gives people who want to learn the chance to do so without the stress of tests and grades.
“It’s the opportunity to learn just for the fun of it at the college level,” she said. “How fun could that be?”
Wright said in terms of space, the center is the best kept secret in the city.
After 3 p.m. the center is practically empty and there is space for classrooms, grabbing coffee, playing pool and table tennis and a lounge area, she said.
“It’s an open, friendly environment,” she said. “People can sit and chat, play cards and drink coffee.”
More than 600 members are enrolled at the two other Puget Sound locations. One is on the UW campus in Seattle and the other at Trilogy at Redmond Ridge — a resort community for baby boomers.
Institute member Katrina Reinhardt, who has enrolled in courses at the Seattle site said education is important for her generation.
“This is such a worthy cause, so wonderful a way for people to try out different things to see what is ‘right’ or ‘stimulating’ for them,” Reinhardt said in a press release.
Wright said she is unsure how many members will enroll for classes. But between 180 to 280 people visit the senior center per day. Approximately one-third of its members do not live in Everett.
“It’s a regional center,” she said.
Each quarter, up to 40 courses will be offered for four to six weeks at all three OLLI-UW locations combined. Classes typically run for two hours. Members can enroll in politics, arts, history, health science, medical ethics and literature classes.
Koop said the courses allow seniors to expand on their cultural and intellectual interests.
“The Osher Institute is one of the few opportunities to give seniors the opportunity to interact in short courses,” she said. “The more active you are physically and intellectually the more likely you’ll stay that way.”
Wright said retired people have a hunger for learning but want it to fit into their lifestyle.
“Retired people don’t want to do a 12-week course,” she said. “This lets them get right into the juice of the topic.”
Helen Oppenheim, a member who enrolled at the Redmond location said she and her peers are “thrilled” to have access to this learning resource.
“It’s an opportunity to learn for the sheer joy of learning — to exchange ideas and insights, to stretch our minds and to add a very special dimension to our lives,” Oppenheim said in a press release.
To learn how to become an Everett Senior Center member, visit www.everettwa.org.
By KATIE MURDOCH