Shafter senior citizens celebrate fitness journey through photojournal

SHAFTER, Calif. (KERO) — Senior citizens who participate in the Enhanced Fitness program, a partnership between Dignity Health and Shafter Rec. and Park District, celebrated their fitness journey on Friday.

• The event showcased photos and personal anecdotes about members of the Enhanced Fitness program and celebrated several months of work by the seniors on their collective fitness journey.
• The project showcased photos and personal anecdotes from seniors in the program describing what incorporating the group and classes into their lives has done for them, like being able to complete a 5k race at 83, incorporating a healthy diet, or just having a sense of belonging.
• Albert Barrera, a longtime Shafter resident, is a relative newcomer to the group and said having a group to support him and a place to go is the exact boost he needed in his life.

BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:

It’s like a photojournal to fitness, I’m Sam Hoyle, your Shafter neighborhood reporter, in February of 2022, the Shafter Recreation and Parks District and Dignity Health agreed to have their enhanced fitness for seniors in and around the area, and as you can see it’s blossoming.

Friday morning in Shafter was a celebration of several months of work through photos and storytelling put together by the Rec and Parks District and Dignity Health to showcase the work the seniors have done over the last several months to better their lives through fitness.

“We wanted the seniors to express what the enhanced fitness program has done to their lives, and but we. Wanted to do it in a way where they can be part of it, and that’s why we chose this way of doing it by a picture and a narrative”

The project showcased photos and personal anecdotes from seniors in the program describing what incorporating the group and classes into their lives has done for them, like being able to complete a 5k at 83, incorporating a healthy diet, or just having a sense of belonging.

Albert Barrera, a longtime Shafter resident, is a relative newcomer to the group and said having a group to support him and a place to go is the exact boost he needed in his life.

“It’s a lifesaver for me. I mean, it gave me a place to go, but a way to exercise safely, you know, because I’m not supposed to do a lot,” said Barrera. “This right here was a true blessing for me, you know, to come here and, you know, participate with all these other people. And, you know, they’re, they just, they took me in like I was one of their own.”

For Philip Jimenez, the district’s Manager, seeing dozens of seniors across his community have a place to go is all he could hope for with the partnership.

“The memories that they’re making down here, and the fellowship that they have is, you know, is immaculate, in the sense of they’re able to dance, they’re able to have joyful, they’re able to joke around as they were kids again, and, you know, as they’re like the. Middle School students who are enjoying themselves.”

In talking with Ramirez, she said the hope is to have something like this in senior centers across Kern County. In Shafter, SH, your neighborhood reporter.

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