Christine Whelan, FEO, May 29, 2025, VOL. 6 ISSUE 19

Seniors are stepping out again this year! On Saturday, June 14th, the Seniors Stepping Out Festival invites all older adults to the Leisureplex to connect with others.

Deborah Fairlie and the Town of Fort Erie’s Senior Advisory Committee are setting up quite an exciting day for our aging community.

“Approximately 45% of Fort Erie’s population is over 55 years old,” Deborah stated.

The event was founded by Catherine Mindorff-Facca in 2022.

“Catherine also worked with the Fort Erie Stronger Neighbourhoods and Niagara Age Friendly. She helped set all of them up, which is pretty incredible.”

Deborah shared that Catherine’s vision for the festival was to promote getting out, education, and community involvement.

“She set the foundation for these events.” She admitted, “It’s easy. Her goal was to get people out who are stuck inside, to connect people and to provide education for our aging population.”

In 2022, the event provided a mixed bag of educational things for the older population.

When Catherine passed away on May 1, 2023, the festival didn’t run the following month as planned. However, when a tribute was created for Catherine, it was mentioned that the Seniors Stepping Out Festival would continue in her honour.

In September of that year, the second annual festival took place at the Douglas Heights Senior Centre in honour of Catherine.

Last year, the festival was held at the Ridgeway Legion in June.

The committee works towards giving the seniors what they want. Each year, they get feedback from the seniors or distribute a survey. “We ask them, ‘What do you want to see next year?’ Each time we start planning, we refer to what they said the previous year.”

The committee also works with other Senior Advisory Committees in Niagara. “It’s great networking. We hear about what our committees are doing in their towns. Across Niagara, we’re all starting to promote information sessions for our seniors.”

“Each year we have a different theme. We don’t want it to get dry. We’re going to keep it current.”

This year, the theme is Volunteerism.

Deborah says this year is geared more towards the younger aging population, those who are starting to think about retirement and what they will do once they are retired.

Deborah was proud to share, “I’ve got 30 organizations confirmed they are coming. They are all local.” These organizations represent a wide range of volunteer opportunities and cover a full gamut of interests.

“I have local agencies that want to promote their volunteerism. They’re each going to have a free booth. We will have smaller tables where they can interview potential volunteers.”

There will be opportunities among the organizations to help with events and fundraisers, visit shut-ins, work at a soup kitchen, and work with plants.

The event will promote the importance of mental health during retirement.

“I ran across a doctor at Brock University. She’s coming to our event. I’m very pumped about it. She will promote her policy brief, Change in an Evolution Niagara: Navigating the Age-Friendly Communities Movement and Volunteerism.”

There will be two food trucks present. “The food trucks will have 3-4 items of equal value.” All senior residents will receive free lunch, and non-residents can purchase their lunches.

“We’re going to have door prizes of gift certificates, drawing every half hour.”

Deborah says they’ve got a sub-committee ready to help the agencies set up and give out the tickets.

Each year the event gets bigger. This year, the Leisureplex was booked in anticipation of a growing crowd.

Whether or not you are interested in volunteering, this event is described in the title: It’s about seniors stepping out, connecting, having a free lunch, and being empowered with knowledge.

Seniors Stepping Out will be held on Saturday, June 14, 2025, at the Leisureplex, 3 Municipal Centre Drive, Fort Erie, from 11:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. This is a free event.

For more information, call 289-821-1972.

Niagara Age-Friendly Flag Raising

The Seniors’ Advisory Committee and Mayor Redekop will raise a Niagara Age-Friendly flag in June, in honour of Seniors Month.

“It’s quite a large organization. They’re working with the World Health Organization (WHO) to get each community age-friendly designated.”

Deborah explained that the Town of Fort Erie looked at it in 2021. “They found too many gaps. The two biggest gaps are healthcare and transportation.”

With those two financial components, Fort Erie is not likely to be designated anytime soon. “However, we can promote inclusion and age-friendly events.”

See the flag raised on Monday, June 2, at 9:30 am at the Town Hall.