THE OTHER SIDE OF MEDFILED, MEDFIELD SENIORS HOLIDAY PARTY

THE OTHER SIDE OF MEDFILED, MEDFIELD SENIORS HOLIDAY PARTY

Sunday December 9, was a gala day for Medfield seniors as several Medfield organizations collaborated to “spoil” Medfield senior citizens at the American legion Hall on Peter Kristof Way. It was the 30th Annual Tri-Club Plus Senior Citizens Christmas Party event. Bill Pardi of COA staff kicked off the event by calling around Sunday morning to seniors to find out who needed a ride to the facility.

The event began at 12:00 noon after a brief welcoming speech by the organizers. Then a four course dinner followed with hors d’oeuvres, soup, chicken piccata, rice pilaf and fresh sautéed vegetables from Basil in Medfield and vanilla dream cake made by the Medfield Legion  Auxillary.  The seniors were joined by 20 residents of Thomas Upham House Nursing Facility and everyone enjoyed the wonderful music by the Paul Gookin Trio. After the dinner it was dance time, with Roberta Lynch, Tom Sweeney, Bill Pardi and Ann Johnson playing an assortment of washboard and horn music makers. It was such a festive event as the Lions Club members in their yellow and purple vests served the guests. They were strongly supported by many women, most of whom dressed in Christmas red lest any one forgot what the season is.

The Tri-Club “Plus” consists of:

Medfield Lions Club is an international organization that supports many projects in the world such as eye glass supplies to those in need. The Medfield Club apart from participating in international programs, sponsored by the headquarters, provides college scholarships to Medfield High school seniors, helps the needy, helps seniors who need yard cleaning especially during the fall when leaves have fallen so much that some seniors could not handle them anymore. They were especially helpful this year following storm Sandy’s visit. This is The Lion’s Club 30th participation in the Senior Christmas Party and Mr. Kevin Heavy’s 12th year of organizing the event. The Club was responsible for setting up, serving, clearing tables and generally ensuring that every participant had a good time. Medfield Lions Club is run by the club president John Carey. The Club makes financial contributions to keep the party going.

Medfield American Legion (Robert Tannier, Commander) is another sponsor of the event. In addition to monetary contribution, the Legion donates the facility for the event. The facility can accommodate nearly 200 participants and it was packed this Sunday. It has enough room for dinner and dancing and of course space for musicians.

The 3rd leg of the Tri-Club is Medfield Sportsman’s Club (Ken Dorsey is the president. The club makes financial donations for the party.

The “plus” part consists of donations made by Friends of Medfield Seniors, Medfield Council on Aging, Mr. Walter Shackley, Sons of the Legion, Lorraine Manganello, Board of Selectmen and Medfield Properties. Over 170 people attended this year’s event with special thanks to all those who donated their time, effort, financial support and especially to Ken Heavey for organizing the event.

Benjamin Obiajulu Aduba

Medfield, Massachusetts

December 10, 2012