Dunmore Activity Hub: Artist of the Month

Posted on March 2, 2016 by The Dunmorean

Joe Bartos Birds pic

Joe Bartos of Dunmore is the Dunmore Activity Hub Artist of the Month for March. His featured paintings are “The Colorful Keys” and “Bird of Paradise.”

Joe says his inspiration came during a trip to Key West where he stayed at a Victorian mansion where he could enjoy the natural beauty of the area in the backyard.

Joe starting painting in 2006 and has been painting with the class at the Activity Hub for about eight years.

Joe says he is inspired by warm places and by family vacation photos. “I only paint warm places with sunsets or beaches,” he explains. “Sometimes I am inpsired by our vacation pictures, or photos from magazines or works I’ve seen in a gallery.”

Bartos says he loves the senior center’s art classes. “Everyone is so friendly,” he notes. And Joe says their instructor, Jill Swersie, is “outstanding.”

He also compliments the center’s director, Jeanne Hugenbusch, saying, “She does a good job, and she is always open to new ideas and suggestions.”

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NOTE: For more information on the Activity Hub’s painting classes or other activities, please visit www.dunmoreseniorcenter.org/activities/.

Dunmore Activity Hub for Seniors present two-act play

Posted on February 3, 2016 by The Dunmorean

The Dunmore Activity Hub for Seniors presented a two-act play, John Mitchell: An American Hero, on Wednesday, Jan. 27.

The two-act play, written and performed as a dramatic reading by Robert Thomas Hughes, was held in the Dunmore Senior Center, 1414 Monroe Ave., Dunmore.

The two-act play was presented as an interview, revealing the personal and professional insights into the life of human rights leader John Mitchell. The original play was also a tribute to John Mitchell as “a champion and defender of human rights.”

Jeanne K. Hugenbruch is executive director of the Dunmore Activity Hub and Cafe for Seniors.

“Well, it is 2016 and we should all make it our New Year’s resolution to learn something new this year,” she said. “Where did 1972 go?

“We are planning many new classes we think everyone will enjoy this year. We are asking that everyone check which programs they are interested in and mail back the form listed in our newsletter.”

Those classes and programs include: How to Self Publish a Book, DIY and Self Sufficiency classes and projects, brain games, Tai Chi, Blogging how to’s, Book of the Month Club, Gifts from the Kitchen, Host a Radio Show/ Record Podcasts, Souper Suppers – Evening Lectures, Organic Gardening, Foodiness- new veggies, our food supply and ethnic cooking, technology classes, local trips, Oil Painting, Free Online college course, Learn to Play an Instrument, Poetry Writing Classes, Community Service Projects, Mahjongg and Ballroom Dancing.

“We are hoping that everyone can please stay warm and join us at the Hub.”

The Commonwealth Medical College in conjunction with the Dunmore Senior Center is working on a collaborative project to provide technology training in an effort to bridge communication barriers. The mission is to provide education in the major communication outlets, like Facebook and Skype, on a smartphone, tablet or computer.

The Dunmore Senior Center held a Medication Take Back Event Tuesday, Jan. 12. The event was sponsored by the Lackawanna/Susquehanna Office of Drug and Alcohol Programs and the Voluntary Action Center.

Lottie Collins is Site Council President at the Dunmore Activity Hub for Seniors. Shirley Martinelli is reservationist. Carol Angerson is lead volunteer.

For more information on the Dunmore Activity Hub and Cafe and its programs, call 570-207-2662. The fax number is 570-207-2640.

The Dunmore Senior Center continues to take applications for 2016 membership.

The Dunmore Activity Hub and Cafe for Seniors is a non-profit agency supported in part through the Lackawanna County Area Agency on Aging, the Borough of Dunmore and through the fundraising efforts of the Senior Site Council and the Board of Directors.

Dunmore Activity Hub: Artist of the Month

Posted on February 3, 2016 by The Dunmorean

Dolly Michalczyk of Dunmore is our featured Artist of the Month from the Dunmore Activity Hub painting class. Featured are two of her paintings, one of Dolly’s husband Joe in Santorini, Greece, and another titled “Meditations: Mykonos, Greece.”

Michalczyk Dunmorean copy

Her inspiration for these paints were, “The beautiful contrasts of white buildings with the blue sky and water in Santorini, and the priest, who was so focused on his meditations and prayers.”

Dolly began painting when she retired in 2009, the same year she began painting at the HUB.

She says, “I paint things and people that are important to me—my family, especially my grandchildren, and friends, and scenes from our travels.”

Commenting about the painting class, Dolly explains, “Our teacher, Jill Swersie, is quite talented and very positive. She works closely with each of us, educating, demonstrating, and encouraging us.”

Dolly says the group has become one big family, supporting each other through illness, deaths and other family crises.

As for the senior center, she points out that Jeanne Hugenbush, the director, is constantly evaluating the programs and adding new and creative choices of activities.

“I love their new Celebration of Life program,” Dolly says. “Most recently, they presented a one-man show entitled ‘John Mitchell: An American Hero,’ featuring local writer and actor Robert Thomas Hughes, and before that they did ‘Barrymore’s Ghost’ by Jason Miller.”

Dolly is now looking forward to the new Mediterranean Cooking series and photography class.

For more information, visit the senior center’s website:
http://www.dunmoresenior center.org/category/programs-and-activities/.