White Oak senior group is following the drumbeat of fitness right into fun

The White Oak Senior Activities Group has grown in the past four years as older adults look to stay busy and have fun.

Older adults in the White Oak area are taking advantage of new opportunities thanks to White Oak Councilman George Pambacas.

Pambacas started the White Oak Senior Activities group four years ago after being asked by several people during the COVID-19 pandemic about things to do for older adults — not just kids.

He got permission from his borough colleagues to use an unused room at the White Oak Athletic Association at 1798 Lower Heckman Road.

“Once I got to be a senior citizen and I retired, I thought to myself if I was ever in the position where I could do something, I would. I’m a lifelong resident of White Oak so I have it in my heart that I want to give back. I knew that there was a need for senior activities,” Pambacas said. “People would come up and say ‘Why don’t you have something for seniors?’ I didn’t know where to start. I was flying by the seat of my pants.

“So I started putting up flyers and my plan was to have organizational type meetings in May, June, July and August and then in September start,” he added. “So, our first meeting in May we had maybe 10 people, then 15, 20 people, 30. So, by the fall, I had lined up speakers so once a month we would have a big meeting.”

The monthly meetings sometimes include educational speakers about Medicare, financial planning, etc. The other half of the meetings are designated for entertainment.

“We usually get 45 to 60 people at those meetings,” Pambacas said. “This far exceeded my expectations. Far exceeded. And I quickly recognized that the older seniors wanted to get out of the house. You can look around the age differences. Unfortunately many widows, so they’re lonely and they meet new friends and things like that.”

Pambacas said he has had people from outside of White Oak ask how he got the senior activities started, and he said he puts flyers out in Giant Eagle, Patti’s Pasticceria, churches and in the Mon Valley Independent’s daily Grapevine. Along with word of mouth, the events spread quickly.

There are also no fees or registration for some activities, according to Pambacas, and people can show up when they can. Donations are accepted for entertainment and coffee hours, but there are no dues and no age or residency requirements.

“It helps that I’m on council. I promised them that it wouldn’t cost White Oak anything except the use of a room at the athletic association,” he said.

A list of upcoming events include:

• An all-day trip to the Altoona Curve via Amtrak Oct. 15. Registration is closed for this event.

• A personal defense class instructed by former police chief Joe Hoffman from 1 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. Oct. 23 at the White Oak Athletic Association.

• Light up Night aboard the Gateway Clipper for dinner, entertainment and fireworks Nov. 23. There is a wait list for this event.

• The senior Christmas party with Mikey Dee is 1 p.m. Dec. 12 at the White Oak Athletic Association.

From September to December, there will also be activities at White Oak Athletic Association, including: • An informal group that meets at the White Oak American Legion on Wednesday evenings for taco night to socialize.

• Chair yoga is at 11 a.m. Mondays and Wednesdays.

• Coffee hour is every other Thursday and the next one is 9:30 a.m. Oct. 13.

Starting in January, a senior will lead other seniors in a low-impact class, which is also free.

Cardio drumming

The cardio drumming classes began Tuesday, and has doubled in size to 32 people.

The group had to move into White Oak Athletic Association’s gym, which recently added air conditioning and heating thanks to a grant from the borough, because the class got too big.

Pambacas said there is not much to the class, which involves an exercise ball, a laundry basket and drum sticks. The instructor puts on the music, gets people’s heart rate up and seniors can either stand to march or sit.

“He’ll instruct you in the kind of steps you can do,” Pambacas said. “There’s various ways you could do it. I guess I’m stating the obvious, but you can see some of the willpower from some of these ladies. They are determined to get here.”

Dakota Lane of All Star Therapies, which does at-home physical therapy, nutrition, group exercise and Silver Sneakers, instructed the hour-long class on Tuesday – playing songs seniors might like. He is also starting a Parkinson’s disease boxing class soon.

“It’s super fun,” Lane said. “We love this. I’m a personal trainer and I accidentally fell into it and it blew up. I started off with two centers and the next thing I know, I’m doing 20. So we go everywhere and I’m super excited this group turned out the way it did. We had 13 I think in the spring when we tried it and it’s doubled. I’m happy about it. It turned out good. We do a lot and we’re all over the place.”

Debbie Caldwell of White Oak has participated in the drumming classes before and said the program is great.

“I was waiting for it and I’m aching and I know I am going to hurt more later, but that’s OK,” Caldwell said. “It comes with the program. I like to come here to see everybody. It’s all great. I hope it can continue.”

Trips

Pambacas said Karen Chapman and Donna Isbir plan the various trips for the group. Chapman works for MetroTours and they try to plan a trip every quarter, and said seniors want to get out and see things.

“The company that I work for has been in business for well over 30 years,” Chapman said. “He always did student trips, and whenever he retired, I said I wanted to do some adult trips. So, we do a lot of research. A lot of trips I have done in the past, we kind of incorporate some of those ideas.”

Chapman said the last two years she has sent out a survey for input.

Last week, a group took a trip to the Laurel Highlands, where they visited the Flight 93 National 9/11 memorial, Quecreek Mine, The Pie Shoppe and ended the day at Greendance Winery at Sand Hill.

“The thing is these are trips that are specific to the group and it’s not like going online and finding a trip that somebody else may be doing, so we change it up,” Chapman said. “I’m always throwing in something different. When we are going to the Poconos, we are actually going to go to a mine. Again, things that are totally different that not everybody would do.”

Chapman and resident Kathy Mc-Cormick go on the trips to make sure everything is running smoothly.

Pambacas and Chapman work together also to get speakers and entertainment at their meetings.

Chapman added that one of the major things that is emphasized is that everybody is welcome on the trips or to the meetings, and that people come from North Versailles, Glassport, Elizabeth Township, North Huntingdon and more.

“We’ll get people from all of the surrounding areas because it’s his philosophy that everybody is welcome,” Chapman said. “It’s always a work in progress. Every time I’ve turned around I’ve been able to add more trips, which is really nice. People would tell us what they would be interested in giving suggestions and that’s why we put out the survey and just kind of go from there.”

The next meeting at the White Oak Athletic Association is set for Oct. 16.