Home Away From Home: A Desi Senior Center in Queens - NBC News: "Not far from the bustling Bangladeshi restaurants and stores on Hillside Avenue is a mosque teeming with activity but not necessarily from worshippers. During the day, women and men sing songs at the "open mic," take English classes, learn about civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and participate in group exercise. They eat meals, pray and celebrate their birthdays together. Sometimes they cry too.
These folks are members of the newly opened "Desi Senior Center," a facility targeted to assist the growing and aging South Asian community in this Queens, New York neighborhood. (Desi is a term that describes anyone from South Asia - Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka). The program is attended mostly by Bangladeshi Muslim immigrants but is open to people of all faiths and backgrounds. It is housed in the basement of the Jamaica Muslim Center in Queens, free of charge and is open to anyone 60 and up (though exceptions are sometimes made for younger participants.)
The facility is operated by India Home, a non-profit organization started by a group of Indian-American physicians who longed for a culturally sensitive community space for their aging parents. The center is open three days a week and offers a wide range of services tailored to the needs of seniors. Bangla is spoken, halal meals are served, prayer space is available and men and women exercise separately. It is the largest program of its kind for South Asian seniors in New York City, with roughly 100 seniors attending on a regular basis."
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These folks are members of the newly opened "Desi Senior Center," a facility targeted to assist the growing and aging South Asian community in this Queens, New York neighborhood. (Desi is a term that describes anyone from South Asia - Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka). The program is attended mostly by Bangladeshi Muslim immigrants but is open to people of all faiths and backgrounds. It is housed in the basement of the Jamaica Muslim Center in Queens, free of charge and is open to anyone 60 and up (though exceptions are sometimes made for younger participants.)
The facility is operated by India Home, a non-profit organization started by a group of Indian-American physicians who longed for a culturally sensitive community space for their aging parents. The center is open three days a week and offers a wide range of services tailored to the needs of seniors. Bangla is spoken, halal meals are served, prayer space is available and men and women exercise separately. It is the largest program of its kind for South Asian seniors in New York City, with roughly 100 seniors attending on a regular basis."
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