NEVER SAY ‘NO’

June Casagrande

It’s 9:30 on a Friday morning, and the Oasis Senior Center is teeming

with life.

In one room, members are learning French. Next door, a ceramics

class is underway. Across the pleasant courtyard, Judy Aprile is

teaching an exercise class just for seniors. Two men play pool in a

billiards room. Another is harvesting kale in the Oasis garden. Three

volunteers bustle with the work of planning senior travel adventures.

And everywhere you look, people are smiling.

“The programs here are wonderful,” said Ray Gootgeld, a member of

Oasis since 1997 who, like many, has become active as a volunteer as

well. “It keeps the mind active. It gives seniors something to look

forward to each day.”

Gootgeld, an active 80-year-old who holds the title of first vice

president of Friends of the Oasis, takes exercise classes three times

a week at the center. He has also taken Spanish conversation classes

and is signed up for a writing course.

Classes are a big part of what Oasis is all about, center Director

Celeste Jardine-Haug said.

But to fully understand what Oasis does, it’s almost simpler to

ask: What don’t they do? If a Newport Beach senior needs a ride to

the doctor, yes, they do that. If someone needs a referral for

housing, yes, they do that, too.

If a senior wants to go on a junket to Vegas, learn to write a

life history, or play mah-jongg or bridge; if someone wants to join a

computer club or a garden club or even a sailing club with its own

boat; if someone needs information about how to get their insurance

company to pay for health care -- the answer to all those questions

and more is, Yes, they do that.

The one thing they don’t do?

“No bingo,” Jardine-Haug said. For one thing, it’s not legal in

Newport Beach. For another thing, there are so many more enriching

activities that seniors can enjoy at Oasis that bingo, by comparison,

might seem like a waste of time.

CLASS ACTS

A quick glimpse of the ceramics class and it’s clear what she

means. Here, an emeritus class of Coastline College has Oasis members

working alongside other students to create some impressive ceramics

pieces.

“I find it very relaxing and stress-reducing,” said Dr. Richard

Tester, a member who has taken three ceramics classes there. “I’ve

made cups and vases and figurines. A favorite of mine is a little

locomotive. It’s a fun piece.”

The college’s emeritus program brings classes to the center that

are free to seniors, though state budget cutbacks mean that Oasis may

have to begin providing some of the classes in coming years. UC

Irvine and Orange Coast College also hold a few classes on campus.

Other classes are taught by volunteers, such as Nancy Lieberg and

Sue Hersch, who lend their expertise at the Friday morning ceramics

class. Other classes are presented by instructors paid by the center

to teach things like computer skills.

Oasis has about 6,000 members and about 4,500 active members. The

center owes its success to a mix of professional city staff members,

the Friends of Oasis and other volunteers. On average, the center

serves about 400 seniors every day.

Friends of Oasis is an auxiliary of mostly volunteer members who

do raise funds and plan events for Oasis. They run the Oasis Travel

Office, which offers trips for seniors, members and nonmembers.

“There’s usually at least one gambling trip a month,” said Sheila

Hatchell, president of Friends of the Oasis. “Then, there are other

trips all over the place.”

A huge calendar on the wall at the busy travel office lists

upcoming trips to Canada’s Atlantic Coast, Pechanga, Montana and Las

Vegas, nicknamed “Viejas” -- Spanish for “old women” -- on the big

board.

The trips raise about $20,000 a year for the center. The travel

office is run by volunteers, some who’ve been at it for about 20

years.

“The volunteers really help make the place run,” Hatchell said.

The Friends of the Oasis budget is about $320,000 a year, some of

which is raised by the Friends, much of it coming from grants and

other outside sources and is managed by the friends.

NO ‘NO’ FOR AN ANSWER

The city has six full-time and two part-time staff at the center,

paid for from a budget of $499,428 last year from the city’s general

fund. Transportation services at the center include four vans

shuttling seniors at a cost of about $2 each way, door to door in

Newport Beach. One of the vans is funded by Hoag Hospital; another is

provided by South County Senior Services. The city budgets $146,899

from its transportation fund for two vans, drivers and maintenance.

“Whether you’re frail and homebound, or whether you’re active and

looking for more of those types of services, we have something to

offer,” Jardine-Haug said. “We tell our volunteers who answer the

phone that there is no ‘no’ answer. When someone calls looking for

any type of service, no matter what it is, we try to offer whatever

information or help we can.

“Our philosophy is, you come to us, tell us what you need or want,

and we’ll do what we can to get it going,” Jardine-Haug said. “That’s

the biggest secret of Oasis’ success.”