I hope I get an A on the assignment!

What’s going on in Your Community?

By Samantha Mooney—Rec 2400
Staff Writer

Walnut Creek, CA — Six weeks into summer and already the café shops are buzzing with locals eager to see the new art display of the season. But this is not your typical art from your typical artists; this art comes from the Best of Walnut Creek—its senior citizens.

For the past three years, select cafés have volunteered their walls as a gallery for the elderly who choose to participate and display their perception of the city through photographs. Anything from shots of the city streets to local farmers can be seen over the fragrance of fresh coffee and chimes of chatter, as the locals pry their way through the thick crowds to enjoy in the excitement and curiosity of Walnut Creek’s finest.

“It’s refreshing to see the city I live in and love at a new angle through the eyes of the elderly community” said Ashley Robello, an independent artist and Walnut Creek resident for over 20 years. “Whenever I come across a part of town that I have seen in the one of their images, it redefines the way that I had seen it before.” Twenty-two year old Sabrina Wee recently purchased a photo and made the comment that “Nothing is more pleasing than to purchase a wonderful piece of local art and have that money go back into the community itself.”

The idea was set into motion four years ago by a local resident, while a student of Cal State East Bay, Hayward. “During my last semester, in my Leisure, Self, & Society class, I was given the assignment to create a class in which seniors could enjoy themselves during the best years of their lives” said Samantha Mooney. “I decided to take an approach that would encourage the
seniors at the Royal Oak Retirement Home to spend some time in the sun yet also be involved within the community outside their living quarters. It’s an opportunity for them to develop themselves creatively and express that creativity with the younger and older generations alike.”

With prior experience in the field, Mooney put together a composition workshop on Sunday afternoons in which seniors of all ages can use the simplicity of digital cameras to explore their interests and beauty of the city. “These seniors can experience something fun regardless of most disabilities that they may have, while also a way to get some exercise with a little walking.”

Mooney drives the seniors around town, making stops according to their likings, as well as to various parks and other adventures around town. Later, Mooney returns the seniors home and then takes the photographs to a local shop for development, returning them to the seniors at the next workshop.

“The price of the workshop is very affordable,” Mooney stated. “Only a small fee of twenty dollars per senior includes one full month of classes—covering gas, the costs of development and framing. I didn’t create the project as a way of making profit but simply to involve myself in the community. Any money that is leftover is donated to the seniors.”

Longtime Royal Oak resident Bill Moyers voiced his excitement of the project, “this experience has given me something to look forward to aside from my usual daily routine.” Another resident, Susan Pinto, said that “taking pictures is now something I can do with my granddaughter, who is an art student at Diablo Valley College. Together, we find how to express ourselves through photography.”

What turned out to be merely an idea to fulfill an assignment flourished into a city project, not only has it surfaced local seniors and their harboring hidden talents but at the same time created a much needed revenue in this economic crisis. “All profits from the sale of the photographs go back into the Royal Oak Retirement Home and to the needs of its residents,” explained Mooney.

The money generated, Mooney states, “is used in many ways, from restoring the external condition of the retirement home, to updating technology, supplying and replacing outdated mobile devices, bettering medications, and having the funds to create even more activities.”

Royal Oak Activity Director, Lynda Hall, says, “If it wasn’t for this project, we may have had to make some major changes and possibly layoff some of our staff, to cut costs for much needed improvements. With state and federal budgets cuts on the rise and a lack of financial resources, these seniors have greatly benefited from their perspective of a town they have watched grow.”

Fun in the sun, expressing creativity, while at the same time improving their living conditions, the seniors at the Royal Oak retirement home admit that they couldn’t have had it any better.