Whether you need help doing something, or don’t feel like doing anything, if you’re a Boone County senior, you can find valuable resources at the Keen Age Center, 2141 Henry Luckow Lane, Belvidere, IL 61008.
Many classes and activities are offered at the Keen Age Center, but Program Coordinator Robbie Freedman asks that you sign up ahead of time for classes, so they know how many chairs to set up or who to call if a class is canceled. You can call her at 815-544-9893 or email [email protected].
For one thing, the Keen Age Center is the place for cards, games, and recreation. Recent morning options have included yoga, chair yoga, painting, skipbo, woodcarving, bobbin lace, diamond art, and “shoes made for walking” I and II.
They offer separate games of billiards/pool for men and women in the morning and veterans in the afternoon. But on Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays, games of pool are open for everyone.
In the afternoons, besides pool, the center has card games – bridge, pinochle, and euchre – and classes and activities such as quilting, knitting, crochet. Games of Kismet and dominos are also available. To keep your mind sharp, you can try karaoke or “Train Your Brain.”
The center offers activities to keep people limber and fit, such as yoga and walking, but Hand and Foot isn’t one of them – that’s a card game popularized in the 1950s. Progressive players can also play Progressive Hand and Foot. If you want even more, try Hand, Knee and Foot. At the Keen Age Center, these games are played in the afternoon.
The center offers tech and computer support, grief support, and low vision support. Vets have coffee together regularly.
But you can come to the Keen Age Center even if you don’t feel like joining an activity. The Computer Lab, TV Lounge and other areas are open throughout the week, just to sit and enjoy others’ company, even to “do a bunch of nothing.”
Of course, one activity that everyone appreciates is eating lunch, and you can eat lunch together in the Keen Age Center community room. There is a suggested donation of $3 for meals, but nobody is turned away if they don’t have the money. But you do have to make reservations before 10:00 a.m. the day before you want lunch, by calling 815-963-1609. The food is provided as part of the Meals-on-Wheels program through a partnership with Lifescape Community Services, so you can have your meal delivered to your home instead.
Another benefit of the Keen Age Center is the Lending Closet, where you can borrow canes, walkers, commodes, shower benches/chairs, wheelchairs, and transfer chairs, free of charge for as long as you need them. Donations are welcome of these items if they are clean and in good repair.
Apart from the Keen Age Center, the Boone County Council on Aging also provides in-home health services, paratransit services, and other benefits. They will even make free friendly phone calls as often as desired to maintain connections, build friendships, and reduce loneliness.
Information and Assistance (I & A) specialists provide free assistance with Federal and State Programs that benefit older adults to help you obtain what you are entitled to.
Boone County Council on Aging is headquartered at the Keen Age Center, 2141 Henry Luckow Lane, Belvidere, IL 61008. For more information, call 815-544-9893 or you can email them. They are supported by donations of volunteer time and money.