Good Neighbor Podcast: Colorado Springs

EP #79: Seniors in Action: Redefining Life After 55 with Tom Lathrop

• Tony Hills & Tom Lathrop • Episode 79

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What makes Tom Lathrop with Colorado Springs Senior Center a good neighbor?  

Forget everything you thought you knew about senior centers. Tom Lathrop, director of the Colorado Springs Senior Center, joins us to shatter misconceptions and reveal a vibrant community hub where adults 55+ connect, learn, and thrive together. Far from the stereotypical image of seniors watching TV in wheelchairs, this dynamic center serves over 3,000 active patrons engaged in yoga, art classes, educational lectures, day trips, and bi-monthly dances.

Tom shares his fascinating journey from 20 years in the Nashville music industry to leading this essential community resource. His perspective was profoundly shaped by personal experience as a caregiver during his son's cancer battle, deepening his empathy and commitment to creating meaningful connections for seniors. This candid conversation reveals not just Tom's passion, but also practical insights about how the center operates.

What makes the Colorado Springs Senior Center truly exceptional is its accessibility. With no monthly membership fees, guests pay only for specific classes they wish to attend. Better yet, they offer discounts through Medicare programs like Silver Sneakers and scholarships for those on fixed incomes – even providing 100% coverage for seniors over 90. While temporarily operating from the downtown YMCA and Westside Community Center during construction, the center will unveil an expanded new facility this September, allowing for even more programming opportunities. Whether you're a senior yourself or have loved ones looking for community, this episode uncovers a treasure hiding in plain sight. Visit csseniorcenter.com to discover how you can join this thriving community today.

To learn more about Colorado Springs Senior Center go to: 

https://seniorcenter.ppymca.org/

Colorado Springs Senior Center

719-237-2780



Speaker 1:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Tony Hills.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Are you looking for a place to go if you're retired, over 55, looking for activities and classes? There may be a place closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing our good neighbor, tom Lathrop with Colorado Springs Senior Center. Tom, how's it going?

Speaker 3:

It's going well today. Thank you very much for having me on.

Speaker 2:

You're welcome. We're excited to learn about your business, so tell us about it.

Speaker 3:

It's what you do, so the Senior Center is an activity center for seniors that are over 55. We have over 3,000 active patrons. The greatest thing about it is there's no monthly fee. So it's a partnership between the city of Colorado Springs and the YMCA of the Pikes Peak region, which a lot of people are familiar about. But it's a place to connect with others, a place to get active. You want to discover new interests, knowledge, talents, and it's a place to enjoy a life full of friendships, acceptance and a variety of options. We do all sorts of things.

Speaker 2:

Okay, awesome. How did you get into this business?

Speaker 3:

So I was in the music business for about 20 years. I lived in Nashville for a bit and then after that time I moved to Colorado Springs in 2010. And I was in the publishing industry for just a little bit with Navigators. I was working for NavPress, which is a ministry here in town, and then, you know, over a few changes, after things were slowing down in that area, I started at the Colorado Springs Senior Center and initially it was just part-time, just to kind of help with moving chairs and tables and kind of getting to know the people that come to the senior center. And it was never the plan to become the director but which I am now. But God kind of put things in place. That that's kind of the route that things went and I'm honored and I'm pretty excited about where things are now as we get ready to go into our new building.

Speaker 2:

OK, what are some myths or misconceptions about your industry?

Speaker 3:

You know a lot of people think, when they hear the word senior center, that you know we must be another assisted living place, be another assisted living place. You know there's people living there or you know that everybody is, you know, sitting around in wheelchairs watching TV and playing bingo. And that is not what we are. We're a very active place for people to do exercise classes, whether it's you know yoga or learn about new things and do art classes. We have many different lectures, we do day trips, we have a dance that right now is twice a month. So there's a lot of things to do at the Senior Center and connect with others.

Speaker 2:

Okay, you said your target customers were seniors over 55 years of age. How do you attract them?

Speaker 3:

So you'll see some of our activities listed in the beacon, which used to be the Life After 50 magazine that's here locally. Sometimes we'll have some advertising through the different local YMCAs so people will hear about us that way. But I'd say it's really been, you know, word of mouth, because the Senior Center has been around for well. It's been the Senior Center here locally since 1986. So it's a pretty long time that a lot of people are familiar. It's a pretty long time that a lot of people are familiar and so people are used to going to you know the one location for so many years and we just draw so many folks that are curious and I expect that when we're in the new building this fall that we'll have a lot more curiosity as people hear more, you know, about the new senior center coming as well.

Speaker 2:

Okay, outside of work, what do you do for fun?

Speaker 3:

Well, I'm a big baseball fan, so I'm a Rockies fan which is just starting up this week, which is pretty exciting and I'm also a big fan of IndyCar. I have a friend of mine that I went to high school with His son races in IndyCar and so I've been following how he's been doing. So people would be familiar with Alexander Rossi. He's a guy that I follow and I know his dad pretty well.

Speaker 2:

Okay, let's switch gears. Can you describe a hardship or life challenge that you overcame, how it made you stronger and what comes to mind.

Speaker 3:

I'd say the latest hardship that I dealt with was during COVID time. My son was going through a cancer battle, which he's doing fine now. Um, but I think being his caregiver and helping through that whole process uh kind of helped me to kind of step back and uh focus on what's important and, um, although it was a terrible time that was going on in the world, you know, with all the stuff, with the pandemic, it really um helped me to learn about what other people go through and seeing from that side of things, because until you've dealt with cancer, you know directly. You just don't really know. And so I came in not really knowing well, what do I do, how's this going to go, what's the process? And so, going through all that, I think I have a bit of an understanding when other people are going through those challenges, and so it's made me a little more empathetic, I think, for folks that I you know come across that are going through treatments and some of those things, because I've seen it firsthand, you know, and being my son's caregiver.

Speaker 1:

So but, like I said, he's doing really well.

Speaker 3:

now he's fully in remission and things are going quite well.

Speaker 2:

Okay, awesome, glad your son's doing better, doing well. So, tom, please tell them this is one thing they should remember about the Colorado Springs Senior Center.

Speaker 3:

Well, right now is that we're open Even though the old building is closed, that you can still go to the downtown Y, which we have our activities, and over at Westside Community Center.

Speaker 3:

We have a building there as well. And some people, I think, are assuming, just because we closed the old building while they're building the new one, that the senior center went away, and so any opportunity I have to get that word out to let people know, hey, there's still a senior center going. We have a lot of the same activities and classes that we have been doing before. It's just that once we're in the new building, starting in September, you know there's going to be a way to expand everything that we have been doing before. It's just that once we're in the new building, starting in September, you know there's going to be a way to expand everything that we're doing. We'll have larger classes, we'll be able to offer more classes, and it's just been a little bit of a challenge being in other places where we're kind of guests in some other places right now. So, but it really has been a vibrant source of activity for seniors in the community and we want to make sure people know about it.

Speaker 2:

Okay, okay, so they could, in other words, the downtown YMCA. Right now, while the new building is being built, they could use that building, the YMCA, for their services.

Speaker 3:

So if they're a YMCA member which you know there's a membership at the Y then they'll also see us there, because we don't have a monthly membership. The way it works is you just pay for the classes that you want to take separately. We do offer discounts for silver sneakers or Renew Active, which is part of folks Medicare program, and then, of course, we do scholarships for folks that are on a fixed income, or, if you happen to be over 90, we give you a 100 percent scholarship. So the donations that we receive in our annual support campaign helps pay for those things and our programs as well, and so we're honored to be able to help you know, seniors in the community that are also struggling financially, because they should be able to have a place that they can go to and connect with others.

Speaker 2:

How can our listeners learn more about the Colorado Springs Senior Center?

Speaker 3:

So they can go to our website at csseniorcentercom and then you'll find a lot of information about our schedules. Our summer schedules are going to be out by April 7th and then, of course, we'll have the fall schedules out in August, you know, once we're in the new building and everything will be a little different than it is now. But they can call us at 719-955-3400 or at 719-209-1717, which is our Westside Community Center location that we're at. So we'll pick up and answer any questions, because there's always lots of questions about what we do and how people can get involved, and we're happy to have as many folks join us as we can.

Speaker 3:

It's just about getting the word out because people don't know about the Senior Center. We want to educate and help people know about all the wonderful things that we offer.

Speaker 2:

Well, Tom, I really appreciate you being on the show. We wish you and your business much success moving forward. Thank you so much.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnp colorado springscom. That's gnp colorado springscom, or call 719-679-4720.