Hamlet Senior Center spreads love with Valentine’s Tour of Italy

HAMLET — The Hamlet Senior Center celebrated the holiday of romance Friday by hosting its Valentine’s Tour of Italy social, an event created to bring seniors together for food, fun and fellowship.

“Last year we had a spaghetti social and it went over so well that throughout the year, every time I’d see a participant from one of the senior centers here in Richmond, they would talk about how much they enjoyed it, and so we wanted to top last year’s event,” said Hamlet Senior Center Director Amanda Kempen.

The event featured a menu inspired by Italian cuisine, including homemade spaghetti, chicken alfredo tortellini and meatless baked ziti for those who are vegetarian or cannot eat meat. A salad reminiscent of Olive Garden’s signature dish complemented the meal. For dessert, the center stayed true to its Southern roots with an eclair dish and banana pudding.

“We kinda stuck to our Southern roots with the desserts, but we definitely wanted to take a little trip. It’s about friendship, fellowship and fun and a little adventure. When we can’t really leave where we are, we try to bring that adventure to our participants,” Kempen said.

The social was a collaborative effort between multiple senior centers in Richmond County and Richmond County Aging Services.

“This was not only for the Hamlet Senior Center participants. East Rockingham Senior Center, Ellerbe Senior Center and our partners at Richmond County Aging Services helped us put this together, so we’re all here together as one big aging community today,” Kempen said.

Kim Hotter, director of the East Rockingham Senior Center, organized several games to engage participants, including charades and an icebreaker activity.

“We try to do games that it’s not just people winning prizes separately, but to do things that make people work together or communicate to promote socialization, part of aging well. So we’ll play games for usually the first hour, then we’ll go into our lunch,” Kempen said.

BowTie Entertainment kept the energy high with music, Valentine’s Day-themed bingo and a karaoke session.

“We’re definitely going to celebrate Valentine’s Day in our own way today,” Kempen said.

The Hamlet Senior Center will continue its Black History Month speaker series every Monday and Friday throughout February. The center’s next big event is a chili showdown on Feb. 26 at 11 a.m., where the city of Hamlet will face off against the senior center in a friendly cooking competition. Participants only need to bring their chili and recipe, with prizes awarded to the top three winners.

“We try to get the different departments to team up against our seniors. It doesn’t matter if you’re a participant here, just a senior in the community. If you’re 55 and older, put your best pot of chili forward and come down to enter. There’s no fee to participate,” Kempen said.