Retirement is a seductive concept, like walking through a beautiful forest — that is, until we reach the end of our working lives and realize we have to create a whole new life. For anyone born in 1960 or later, Social Security now sets “full retirement age” at 67, so that forest arrives later than it did for our parents.

How do we use all this time that is suddenly available? Luckily, our city has options, and one of the best organizations we can turn to is the Fullerton Community Center, which houses the Senior Citizens Club of Fullerton.

We are not a small crowd. According to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, roughly 20,500 Fullerton residents — about one in seven of us — are 65 or older.

It was August of 1958 when a group of senior citizens came together to propose a senior club, an effort led by a gentleman by the name of John Stickland. Their proposal to the City Council was readily accepted, a building was built, and by August 21 of 1960, the Fullerton Senior Club opened its doors. The club has been meeting ever since — sixty-six years and counting — and was later incorporated as the Senior Citizens Club of Fullerton, the nonprofit name it still carries today.

At the time, there was no entertainment, so some of the members started a “kitchen band.” The only true instrument was a piano, but the Kitchen Band recruited until the group included washboards, egg beaters, pots and pans, funnels, and wooden spoons!

The building the club meets in now is not the one that opened in 1960. In October 2012, the city opened the current 60,000-square-foot Fullerton Community Center at 340 W Commonwealth Avenue, on the edge of Amerige Park. Then-Mayor Sharon Quirk-Silva cut the ribbon before a large crowd.

The idea was deliberately intergenerational: rather than keeping youth in one building and seniors in another, the city folded the Boys & Girls Club, the Senior Center, and Parks & Recreation programs under a single roof. The result includes a 5,000-square-foot Grand Hall with a performance stage and full kitchen, a regulation gymnasium, an indoor 25-yard pool, arts and crafts rooms, and an outdoor courtyard.

Currently, the Senior Citizens Club of Fullerton sponsors enough events and activities to keep a senior busy through much of the year. There is Bingo, Creative Coloring, Karaoke, Needlecraft, and a Walking Group, among other activities. These seniors don’t limit themselves to local events. They also organize trips.

The Club office is open Monday through Thursday from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm and Friday from 9:00 am to noon, and the travel office is open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm. Both can be reached at (714) 738-6575 or (714) 738-5306. The Club is also looking for senior volunteers — ask at the Club office.

The Fullerton Community Center provides a wide array of opportunities and assistance to seniors. Fun activities include Chair Yoga, Pickleball, Table Tennis, and Longevity Stick Balance, plus a Senior Drum Circle on the second and fourth Thursday of each month, a Senior Ukulele Jam on the first and third Thursday, and a Sing-A-Long on the third Thursday, all from 4:00 to 5:15 pm.

Two of the most critical services are related to food. In partnership with Meals on Wheels Orange County, lunch is served in person Monday through Friday from 11:00 to 11:30 am. And in partnership with Second Harvest Food Bank, free groceries are distributed on the first, second, and third Thursday of each month, from 10:30 am to noon, while supplies last. Bring bags — insulated ones are best — or a cart to carry everything home. It’s not always easy being a senior, but being hungry should never be part of a senior’s life, yet for some it is.

The Fullerton Community Center gives a lot to the community, and as residents, we can give back. It’s time for a fun event to close out the summer: set aside Thursday, September 24th from 2:00 to 5:00 pm to attend the upcoming Senior Follies! Watch your fellow seniors sing, dance, or play instruments.

The Follies has come a long way in a short time. The first one, presented by Parks & Recreation on May 19, 2023, drew more than 100 people for 28 acts by seniors from Fullerton and the surrounding area — a Korean drum team, a hula group, belly dancers, swing dancers, and a band called The Jammers among them, with Lew Dentler as master of ceremonies. It has since become an annual September tradition.

You can cheer for your friends, but more importantly, you can get out of the house and engage in socializing, one of the most important activities a senior brain can do. That isn’t just folk wisdom: the Lancet Commission on dementia prevention lists social isolation among the modifiable risk factors linked to dementia risk, alongside things like hearing loss, physical inactivity, and depression. Showing up matters.

Fullerton Community Center is located at 340 West Commonwealth Avenue.