Spreading Sunshine

By MARY RAINWATER
The Palestine Herald

August 11, 2008 01:18 am

— As the Palestine Senior Center’s new activity director, Amanda Malone has adopted a single mission — to bring a little bit of sunshine to the lives of each person who enters the building.
Malone’s main responsibility is the planning and organization of educational and entertaining activities for seniors at the center.
“I have had nutritional experts come speak and potter Garry Harvey came once to give a demonstration for us,” Malone said. “We recently held a Wild West week — the seniors dressed up in western attire and a local group hosted a gun show.
“We recently brought back BINGO night, which has becoming pretty popular,” she said. “I also organize the first Thursday dance and ‘Movie Madness’ Fridays and help set up for the meal every day.”
Future activities, Malone said, include a special Fire Safety Awareness program in October, a Medicare talk in September and a presentation on the county’s Operation Lifesaver program for families of Alzheimer’s patients.
“I am always looking to bring new programs and activities to the center,” she said. “I am looking very forward to moving to our new building, where we will have the space to offer more programs and hold larger activities.”
While she is kept busy filling the center’s activity calendar, it is bringing encouragement and happiness to local seniors that offers her the most fulfillment in her job.
“My favorite time is when the seniors are on site,” she said. “Knowing some of them are coming in having had a bad day and that I can make them smile.
“I want to make each one of them feel as special as I can — as special as they are,” she added. “They are someone’s parents or grandparents and I want to treat them as if they were my own.”
Malone has been working at the senior center since June 2.
“(Director) Lois Durant and I hit it off at the interview and she offered me the job,” Malone said. “I used to work at an office position in the health care field and thought working here would be very rewarding.
“So far, it has been.”
Outside the center, Malone spends most her free time serving the congregation of Cornerstone Worship Center in Palestine, where her husband David Malone is pastor.
“Being a pastor’s wife is a full-time job, and it correlates well with my work at the senior center,” she said. “Both roles are about serving and encouraging people, which is something I really enjoy doing.”
Malone and her husband David are Palestine natives. She is a graduate of Westwood High School and currently is studying accounting at Trinity Valley Community College-Palestine.
For more information about activities or services offered by the Palestine Senior Center, call Malone at 903-729-0255.
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Mary Rainwater may be reached via e-mail at mrainwater@palestineherald.com

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