GENUINE FEEL-GOOD MOMENTS. The blossoming relationship between Menomonie's senior center and the UW-Stout Child & Family Study Center is almost too sweet to handle. For the next three years, the groups will share space at the local leisure center while UW-Stout's Heritage Hall is being renovated. 

Each month, somewhere between 1,500 to 2,000 locals walk through Menomonie’s Shirley Doane Senior Center doors. Many of those folks regularly hangout at the center – robust programming is offered each week and spans from senior-friendly exercise programing to activities like card games and crafting events – and as of late, a bunch of sweet new faces have joined the community.

Just ahead of the fall semester, the local senior center welcomed new ‘neighbors’ to its building: the staff, students and littles part of the University of Wisconsin-Stout’s Child & Family Study Center.

The program doubles as a daycare for community and campus members’ kiddos, and an educational lab for UW-Stout students. The campus center typically calls Heritage Hall home; while the building undergoes a major renovation over the next three years, it will share space with the senior center.

"It's a joy, their being here, and i'm not just saying that; it is a joy."

DONNA COLLINS

DIRECTOR, SHIRLEY DOANE SENIOR CENTER

The kids part of UW-Stout's Child & Family Study Center refer to the locals at the Menomonie senior center as their 'neighbors.'

Tina Tharp, pictured, is a Mayo Clinic employee and the president of the senior center's board of directors. She read to the kids and some of the senior center's members in early November as part of a group activity. 

“Before (the family center) was here we had used of most of the rooms in the building during the week when the senior center is open,” Collins explained. “We’ve had to rearrange our scheduling for activities and programs, but it has been a wonderful experience so far.” 

“We are so fortunate that (the senior center) already had this great community and vibrant space,” Feller said. “Our overlap with the seniors – we call them ‘our neighbors’ instead of ‘seniors’ – is growing already, and that’s exciting.”

When the senior center held its Veteran’s Day program this fall, the children took part by performing songs, doing a parade and decorating. In October, the “Halloween Hootenanny” brought games, storytelling and songs to the building. The kids have even playfully joined the seniors’ exercise classes – an example of the new merry moments that now fill the community center.

The collaboration between the local senior center and the child and family center has been even better than she had hoped, Feller said. 

From an educational perspective, Feller said, there have already been notable moments of learning. To see kids interact with a different generation, students (and staff) can gain additional real-life experience and bridge classroom knowledge with the off-campus community.

“It’s a win-win,” Feller said.

While any amount of change can be difficult, the transition and blossoming relationship between the family center and the local senior center has been nothing short of wonderful, Feller and Collins agreed.

The senior center typically opens between 8:30-9am, Collins said, though the children and UW-Stout staff begin their days at 7:30am. Even that small change has proven significant, in the most joyful of ways.

“When I walk in the door (in the morning), there is all that life,” Collins said. “Not that we weren’t happy here before, but this is an exaggerated happiness, the kids being here. I’ll pass by the rooms and just giggle, seeing them.

“It’s a joy, their being here, and I’m not just saying that; it is a joy.”

The Shirley Doane Senior Center (1412 6th St. E, Menomonie) is open weekly. Keep up with the senior center on Facebook and learn more about the UW-Stout Child & Family Study Center online.