Social get-togethers, hiking, advice on age-appropriate living – the senior citizen center in Neubiberg stands for a lot of things that concern the elderly. On Thursday, July 22nd, the house will celebrate its 40th anniversary. The anniversary will be celebrated as part of the senior citizens’ meeting in the auditorium of the Neubiberg primary school with volunteers and registered senior citizens. The SZ spoke to Renate Krier, who has headed the facility for more than ten years, about the development of the house and wishes for the future.
SZ: How has senior work changed in recent years?
Renate Krier: You have regular guests who came as young seniors and continue to age. The people who are going to retire now and then come to us are a completely different generation. The motivation is the same, but the needs are different. The motivation is still to experience community, to have a meaningful leisure activity. Many also pass on their skills.
To what extent are the needs of the new generation of senior citizens different?
There is a change in the subject. For a long time, housekeeping was in the foreground, especially for women. At the traditional June market, the women from the senior center offered 18 trays of strawberry cakes and no less than 30 other cakes. There are still passionate bakers around, but the young senior women no longer define themselves by baking cakes. They also want to participate digitally in life, for example they want to operate tablets and smartphones. There is also a big change in the volunteers who get involved. The new generation no longer wants to commit itself long-term, but gets involved on a project-specific basis. Many want to do something independently. For us, this creates the challenge of creating specific offers in order to integrate the new young senior citizens as well.
How does it work?
Nordic walking, for example, has not been around that long. I let the senior citizen who offers this act according to her own specifications. I want to offer the volunteers so much freedom that they feel comfortable.
What does the senior center offer as a whole?
Before Corona, of course, that was much more. We had several programs in the past year and were able to implement almost none of them because of the pandemic. There is no new issue yet, but we have a lot on offer again. Among other things, a sports program with table tennis, boules, cycling. There are various language courses. We have a great painting group who also designed the motifs for the cover of our anniversary chocolate. Because of the bad weather, two of our garden concerts have already been canceled. On August 24th, however, the swinging Sebastian Schwarzbach will perform with his wife Andrea Stjernedal. In addition to the courses, we also offer informative lectures and excursions. The cooperation within the community is very good, and we will soon be organizing a lecture with the library on the subject of “Living in Old Age”.
In the pandemic, the senior center also had to be very flexible. How did you reach your clients?
We talked a lot on the phone. We know who comes to us. We mainly contacted the single people. The longer the pandemic lasted, the longer the phone calls became. During the Corona period, we gained many senior citizens, for example through the shopping delivery service and our senior citizens’ bus.
The chances that the new senior center will be built in the foreseeable future are not bad. The local council recently decided to resume planning. What do you wish?
First of all, it’s great that we remain visible in the center, get modern rooms and keep the beautiful garden. I would like a functional house in which, for example, the offices are also located in such a way that you don’t have to go through a course room first as you do now. We also need a disabled toilet and barrier-free rooms. My deputy Kerstin Stiefermann has now also taken on the task of looking after the disabled. I hope that we will become a house in which this group can also join.