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‘Your Life Is Today and Tomorrow’
Residents of local senior living communities share their experiences.
“I didn’t want to come here,” said Bill Woessner, referring to Brightview Assisted Living Community in Great Falls. “That’s right,” agreed Sheila, his wife of more than 50 years, with plenty of her native Scottish brogue to be heard in her voice. “He really didn’t. We have a lovely house here in Great Falls and I don’t think he was ready to budge. But how long after we got here did that change?” she turned to her husband and asked. “At least a day,” he laughingly replied. “Seriously,” said Bill Woessner, “it probably wasn’t more than the first 48 hours.”
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Creative Aging Festival Coming in May
Includes 114 performances, poetry readings, art exhibits, lectures, classes and more.
A Creative Aging Festival will take place throughout the month of May at 100-plus local venues in Fairfax County, the City of Fairfax, Arlington and Alexandria. The month-long festival includes 114 performances, poetry readings, art exhibits, lectures, classes and more.
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Fit for the Golden Years in Potomac
Fitness programs for seniors are part of a trend
One night each week, Sue Thompson can be found dribbling a basketball down the court, leading her team, the Nova United, to victory. Thompson, who is in her 60s, is one of the youngest players in her league, the National Senior Women’s Basketball Association.
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Fit for the Golden Years
Fitness programs for seniors are part of a trend.
One night each week, Sue Thompson can be found dribbling a basketball down the court, leading her team, the Nova United, to victory. Thompson, who is in her 60s, is one of the youngest players in her league, the National Senior Women’s Basketball Association.
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Helping Hands
Senior Services of Alexandria
Five years ago, Mary Lee Anderson was asked if she could help Senior Services of Alexandria set up an information database. Since that time, what was supposed to be a part-time commitment has turned into a second career for the international telecommunications corporate executive.
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Arlene Hewitt Sets the Pace for Seniors in Alexandria
A recipe for activism at any age.
She is four feet 10 inches tall and 84 years old. She tutors children who cannot read; she champions health insurance for the uninsured in Alexandria; she meets with mayors and senators; she takes 90-year-old gentlemen out to dinner; she wants to reduce the teen pregnancy rate in Alexandria; and she never lets more than a few days go by without chatting with her children or grandsons, usually via email or skype.
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Aging in Place
Finding out about the latest services and programs.
Alexandria is a great place to be a senior – there are so many different services and organizations with programs designed to help older residents remain in their homes and age in place safely and in a healthy environment.
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Lee Senior Center in Arlington Is a Creative Hub
Painting, pottery, rock bands, and social dance are big hits.
A passer-by at Lee Center in Arlington stopped in to see the country music players the other day and left feeling this group of musicians was worth staying to hear for the whole hour.
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Inclusive Camaraderie for Seniors in Alexandria
Class offers a place to chat and get balanced.
Margaret Lewis got things going for seniors at the Mount Vernon Recreation Center, starting the first Tai Chi class, knitting group and square dancing classes about 15 or 20 years ago. “It all started with Margaret Lewis,” says Donna MacDonald.
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Getting Dirty for a Good Cause
Staff and volunteers plant native grasses along Big Rocky Run.
Wearing sturdy boots and wielding shovels and wheelbarrows, some two dozen people recently left their comfortable offices to dig in the soil at Ellanor C. Lawrence Park. When they were done, a variety of native grasses had been planted to beautify the Big Rocky Run stream valley and help stabilize the banks there. Participating were staff members and volunteers from Fairfax County’s Department of Public Works and Environmental Services (DPWES), Stormwater; Park Authority; and the Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District (NVSWCD).
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Fairfax One: ‘Ambulance in the Air’
A close-up look at Fairfax County’s police helicopter.
Members of the Sully District Police Station’s Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) recently toured Fairfax County’s heliport, got to speak with a pilot and saw the Fairfax One helicopter up close. It’s a twin-engine, Bell 429 and does both police and medivac missions for the county. And one of its pilots, PFC Nick Taormina, is a paramedic as well as a police officer.
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Chantilly Boys’ Lax Bounces Back from First Loss
The Chantilly boys’ lacrosse team suffered its first loss of the season on March 26, falling to Robinson, 7-4, in a matchup of state powerhouses.
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Column: Emerging from the Polar Vortex
Spring is here; time to dig in and preserve the local environment.
It seems like such a short time ago that the words “polar” and “climate change” prompted only images of iconic polar bears searching for the last melting Arctic ice floes. Few of us had even heard of “polar vortexes” and their impacts on the Potomac Subregion, but we have all learned rapidly about this other, more local, effect of climate change. Now, finally, the daffodils are budding up and it appears the long winter is over.
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Participants serve Arlington Works! as part of their year-long service commitment.
AmeriCorps members pledge to get things done for America. When they embark upon their year of community service, they vow to unite fellow Americans and strengthen communities. The now eight-member Arlington Works! AmeriCorps team has been doing just this since the partnership started in 2011. This year’s Arlington Works! team is the fourth AmeriCorps team to work with two non-profits, the Arlington Education and Employment Program (REEP) and Edu-Futuro, a partner program of Arlington Public Schools that sets out to ensure opportunities for children of immigrant families.
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Arlington: Nunez-Led Washington-Lee Generals Not Surprising Anyone
W-L boys’ soccer expects to face defensive-minded opponents.
The Washington-Lee boys' soccer team is off to a 3-0-1 start.
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Arlington: Nunez-Led Washington-Lee Generals Not Surprising Anyone
W-L boys’ soccer expects to face defensive-minded opponents.
Washington-Lee forward Maycol Nunez dominated opponents during a stellar sophomore season, scoring 37 goals while leading the Generals to the 2014 VHSL 6A state final.
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Arlington Courtroom Drama
Public Defenders protest pay inequality with Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office.
“You have a right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you.”