The house on the hill at Liberty Rock Road fills up Wednesday afternoons with residents from throughout Sloatsburg. They come from all walks of life and for many reasons, to meet friends, play cards, mingle, or just to get out of the house. But mostly to see friendly faces and have a good time. These Wednesday afternoon get-togethers have been going on since 1972, when the Sloatsburg Senior Citizens Club was officially formed. The spacious house with its cozy main hall is a perfect place to meet, especially the first Wednesday of the month, when the side table is laden with homemade cakes of all sorts and sizes in recognition of those members who will be celebrating their birthdays.
To every Lady and Lassie, who is somebody’s “RAMAPO ROSE” without and within the heights, stretches, and shadows of THE BEAUTIFUL RAMAPO MOUNTAINS, this song is cordially dedicated by The Composer, from (My Beautiful) Ramapo Rose sheet music, published in 1931 by C.J. Kehoe of Monsey, New York.
The club, led by organizational wizard and President Rose Nattini, is all about fostering friendships and staying active. Before the click of the new year, Nattini already had the club’s 2012 schedule mapped out. She divided the club into different tables and challenged each to come up with an interesting adventure that would appeal to members. This week there’ll be a pizza party at the center, with the first big outing taking place in late March — lunch and a show at the Brownstone Restaurant in Paterson, N.J., which gained recent fame and notoriety from its connection to “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” reality show.
“I got involved with the club because I was interested in going on the trips,” said Nattini. “A lot of our members belong to Hillburn and Tuxedo seniors’ clubs. And Hillburn has a lot of trips. They have two trip coordinators — and, oh my gosh, they go on cruises. Of course there’s a lot of money involved. We try to keep our prices down for our seniors.”
For an annual fee of $10, Sloatsburg residents 55 and older can join the center. One goal Nattini and members had this year was to rename the club and attract new members. During a recent meeting, Nattini once again set tables to work and members voted on a new club moniker — Forever Young Club of Sloatsburg. “We’ve picked up a least 10 new members this year,” said Nattini, adding that the club is always looking for new members. 57 people are scheduled for this Wednesday’s pizza party at the center.
For the first big event of the year, Nattini said the club hosted the Wild Rovers, an Irish music duet in mid-January. “We had about 53 people show up,” she said. Nattini told a story about two members, brothers George and Bill Heller, who Nattini knew to be musical. Both are longtime Sloatsburg residents. She said that Bill Heller, in his late 80s, took sick last year. “Bill was sick and the doctor said, ‘you might as well plan the funeral.’ But then, just like that, he came out of it.” So, Nattini had the Wild Rovers invite the brothers up for a bit of musical therapy.
“Well, Bill was playing those spoons like a real professional,” Nattini continued. “He was going around (with the spoons) hitting his brother and just playing them everywhere. People were standing up and cheering and clapping, and his wife was laughing so hard. You know, last year they planned his funeral and look at him now. They were the entertainers of the afternoon.”
The Forever Young Club of Sloatsburg enjoys the benefits of having its very own senior center, unlike many of the other 22 senior clubs scattered around the Town of Ramapo, including the Hillburn club, which meets at the Hillburn firehouse on the first and third Mondays of the month. Bought by the village in 1989-1990 and renovated to include a spacious meeting hall, the property on Liberty Rock Road across from the Sloatsburg Library initially cost very little, due to a combination of federal and state funds, and plenty of volunteer help by local professionals throughout Sloatsburg. Now, the village budget covers the club’s operating and upkeep costs, as well as transportation for club outings. Thus the closed status — for an additional fee, seniors from around Ramapo can sign up for Sloatsburg trip.
The next big club project is a Forever Young cookbook that will feature member recipes from appetizers to desserts. “We’re going to have a home economics class every Wednesday,” Nattini said, eyes twinkling. “I mentioned the cookbook last week and got the material from the publishing company dropped off at my doorstep.”
The idea is to publish a three-ring binder book with more than 150 recipes from members that will include everything from appetizers to soups and salads, pasta dishes, meats and fish, and the renowned members’ desserts. With the binder, cooks can take out any recipe to use without having to haul out the entire book. The club plans to print at least 200 books to sell as part of its fundraising effort.
“We get all of the material together and then we send it off to the publisher and they make up a book for us,” said Nattini, in her can-do way. A retired administration secretary from Suffern High School, her organizational zeal keeps the club rolling steadily along. “We’re shooting for this coming August to have it published. We want it out before our 40th anniversary in September.”
The Forever Young Club of Sloatsburg meets every Wednesday at 1 p.m. at the Senior Center, 8 Liberty Rock Rock. For information, call 753-6646 or contact club president Rose Nattini.
