For elders who are part of the Wards 7 and 8 community, summertime doesn’t always mean summer break. 

Deyanne Nicholas, 73, will be spending time outdoors as a seasonal camp monitor with D.C.’s Department of Parks and Recreation, where she’s worked for 45 years. Charles Turner, 74, will be working with a group of grandparents who help people experiencing mental health crises. Irene Picot, 64, will be practicing her aqua aerobics – and trying to turn others on to the exercise too. 

In other words, they’ll be busy. 

“I hope to have a safe, wonderful, prosperous, serving summer,” says Janice Alston Mason, whose agenda for the next few months includes going to church, spending time with her family and friends, and connecting with youth in her community. 

Elders of Wards 7 and 8 find themselves pouring into their communities year round, but especially in the summer – whether it’s 10-year-old children in their neighborhood or 80-year-old residents at their senior wellness center. For Janice, Charles, Deyanne, and Irene, this isn’t anything out of the norm, especially after raising kids and grandkids. But in between working at a camp, counseling families, or advocating for the benefits of water aerobics, they’ll also be taking time to just…have fun. 

“Our trips are to explore the arts, nutrition, and shopping,” says Deyanne, who visits Washington Seniors Wellness Center on Alabama Avenue in Ward 7. “We’re FANS – Fun, Arts, Nutrition, and Shopping.” 

She and her peers recently saw a play at Anacostia Playhouse, and on other trips, they’ve gone out to Baltimore to visit museums, shop, and try new restaurants. The programming is done through the Washington Seniors Wellness Center – a center run out of D.C.’s Department of Aging and Community Living. Across all residents, they agree that the city needs to increase funding for senior programs, but should seek advice from the seniors themselves as to what they want out of them.  

“I guess its the age old thing that at some point everyone feels, when you reach a certain age you revert back into immaturity…so it gets to a point where everyone thinks they know what’s best for seniors, well, better than seniors know what’s best for us…If you’re going to spend some money on us, this is what we want you to spend it on,” says Charles. 

This is evident when programming doesn’t meet the wants or needs of the community it’s supposed to serve, he says. 

“I guess to put a point poetically, when you are approaching the autumn and winter of your life, there is not a lot of thought towards summer,” Charles adds . “And I guess the powers that be, people don’t think about what a senior is going to do for the summer.” 

For this edition of Voices of Wards 7 and 8,  we spoke to elders about summer – their plans, memories, and favorite parts. 

Their responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Janice Alston 

I live in Ward 8. I’m a retired, proud, paraprofessional.

I went back to school at a late age and I even made the Dean’s list, which was wonderful.  Before I started working, I volunteered at Leckie elementary school – I volunteered for 10 years.  You can always be of service – because that’s my number one, my faith in God.

My grandmother lived to be 104 and we stand on the backs of all those that have gone before us. So I tried to instill compassion, love, fellowship, giving, serving and being of service into mine. I’ve got three fine sons and I instilled that in them, [so] then they instill that into their families.

This summer I’m going to do activities with my church and spend time with family and friends. We’re probably going to do more things outside. Even though we have some of the violence and stuff, we trust that God will cover us. And we need more people to do a lot of things with their kids. 

I wish they would bring back some of the things that did work [with kids]. I went to a recreation center and and felt safe. And when you open the trade schools back, and the recreation centers – man them with people that really, really have the heart for the students and the seniors as well, that’s what they need. We need something, especially for the summer when kids are out of school and the people aren’t at home so the kids won’t feel like they have to be trapped there in their house.

Me, I live right down the street – they used to call it ‘Alexander Gardens’. And I spend just about all my retirement paying my rent. But thank God for my family and for getting some services, I know that will help in the summertime as well.

Charles Turner 

What I plan for this summer – well, as well as we can plan these days, I’m working with this organization that at one time was called ‘grandparents in favor of COVID-19 vaccination.’ When that scare or that panic subsided as much as it has, we morphed into ‘grandparents who are dealing with people who have mental health challenges.’ Then there’s an organization from Zimbabwe who has a program called Friendship Bench. Their program consists of training people to help people who are in mental health crisis or having mental health challenges. They want to set up a model program here in D.C., where we might use the same techniques.

They have three levels of training – where [they teach] lay people to sit and have a place on a bench, an actual physical bench –  where people can come up through by arranging appointment times, or maybe we’re just sitting there where people will know that there’s somebody they can come and sit down and talk with, maybe just cause a lot of people just need somebody to empathize with them.  And once we identify the area of their challenge, their  mental health challenge, we can refer them to the appropriate person or program or system to help them meet that challenge.

What we need is more summer programs. There is a program that the department of parks and recreation runs, a summer program, where they have a senior camp for seniors for a week, and they have a couple of sessions of that. Other than that, there’s nothing out of the ordinary to do for the summer. I guess to put it poetically, when you are approaching the autumn and winter of your life, there’s not a lot of thought towards summer. And I guess the powers that be don’t think about what a senior is going to do for the summer. The senior camp program, that came about because the mayor gave money to parks and recreation to set up senior program, but they don’t come to us and ask us what we’d like to do for the summer.

 A resource we would need the most is for them to give us not only a seat at the table to determine what we need or what we want, but also [for us to] be part of the determining factor on what is prioritized, and how the resources or funding or whatever they give towards us doing something for the summer is applied. They come around and ask us what we want, but we never hear anymore about it until something appears. To me it’s like the tail wagging the dog, you know?

I guess it’s the age old thing, that at some point everyone feels that when you reach a certain age, you revert back into, I guess, immaturity. So it gets to a point where everyone thinks they know what’s best for seniors, well, better than the seniors. A lot of them, a lot of us, are comfortable in our retirement – and feel that we put up the fight and don’t need to spend a whole lot of energy this way. But some of us still want to determine what’s best for us. And if you’re going to spend some money on us, this is what we want to spend it on, you know, and this is what we think you ought to spend it on first. 

Deyanne Nicholas 

I am a native Washingtonian. I spent most of my life in Ward seven and eight. I attend the Washington Seniors Wellness Center. I’m 73, and I accept the title of being a senior. And kudos to those who have lived long enough to be super seniors, those I classify maybe in the upper eighties and nineties, and of course, a hundred.

The D.C. weather in the summer can be a killer, almost. It gets very hot and humid here, but I love it. I was blessed to have selected a profession that took advantage of summer weather. I’ve retired after 45 years with D.C.’s Department of Parks and Recreation – and summer camps, and the swimming pools were our golden stars. I’m still onboard as a seasonal employee. I am looking forward to this summer, being a camp monitor at some of the day camps in southeast and nearby northeast. I just got my passport back. I’ll do some traveling, I’m not sure where I’m going, but I’m planning to do some traveling.

Can you share a bit about your most memorable summer?

I love the spring as well. I will share with you a memorable spring. I have lost a dear cousin who is like a sister, I’m an only child, but she had a sister. We all took a road trip to Georgia to see other family members and it was awesome.  It was great. It was bad! We had big fun and we were also celebrating our birthdays in March, so I really wanted to share that.

Do you feel as though the seniors in your community are provided enough resources to enjoy the recreational activities in the summertime throughout the city?

Many of the seniors need transportation to the centers. So, if transportation services could be improved upon that would be great. Our facility, which is the original senior wellness enter in the area, could use some upgrades, improvements, and enlargements. So that would be welcomed.

Irene Picot 

I always do something for the summer. Traveling, water aerobics, I come here (Washington Seniors Wellness Center) to exercise. I think the mayor did a good thing for us. She opened these centers up for everybody and gave us resources – to go get free groceries, free trips and stuff. A lot of people don’t pay for trips, as some people do. Just to be a D.C. resident, you can go anywhere in D.C., and you have a good time.

If we can get the crime down, get security… better security everywhere for the seniors and then get these children out with these guns, it will be a better summer.

Wynona Ford

This (Washington Seniors Wellness Center) is where I come to exercise and we go on trips, and I’m loving it. I love dancing – that’s my hobby – I’m dancing and doing my exercise. [This summer] I’m ready to travel, I like traveling. We’re probably going to Florida and I’m looking forward to it. Me and my male friend, we’re probably going out to Jamaica this summer. I’m trying to travel a little bit.

What’s your most memorable summer ?

The summer I retired, August 1st, on my mother’s birthday. I called my job August of 2020. I told them I’m not coming back. I was already at the retirement age, maybe three years over my retirement. When that pandemic hit, I said, I’m not coming back. My daughter gave me a party, they gave me outdoor party at my house. And we just enjoyed it. I enjoyed it.