Thanks to Clothesline Laundromat for their support.
More than classes, activities, and fitness for older adults, Thompson Park Activity Center (TPAC), provides connection.
“After the pandemic it really made it clear how important social connections are. I know it’s true for all ages, but we definitely saw that here,” said TPAC Older Adult Coordinator Brenda Myran.
How did that play out? “Profound loneliness and sadness, probably some depression,” Myran said. “I just know when people started coming back, they talked about how glad they were to be back. They needed it. They needed to be here.”
What TPAC Offers
TPAC offers classes, day trips, games, art, fitness, clubs and more. There are musical performances, educational opportunities, and groups to facilitate conversation and connection.
- Sometimes it’s experts sharing their knowledge on specific topics, whether it’s an attorney helping older adults write their own healthcare directive or a naturalist talking about bears.
- Recent classes included Star Tribune sports writer Jerry Zgoda and former White House ethics lawyer Richard Painter.
- Groups include the volunteer-focused Umbrella Project (we’ll share a separate article exploring their work), a mystery book club, and the “Great Decisions Group” that explores geopolitics and U.S. foreign policy.
- Every Monday TPAC offers the Computer Center for drop-in tech help (we’ll share more on this service in a future article).
- Every spring, West St. Paul Mayor Dave Napier offers “Muffins With the Mayor” to answer questions. Not to be outdone, Dakota County Commissioner Joe Atkins is hosting “Soup and Scoop” this winter.
All the activities are about meeting that need for connection and interaction.
Location: “We’re in a beautiful spot,” said Myran. Being situated in Thompson County Park opens the door for additional options, including outdoor activities such as bocce ball or cornhole and nature walks or classes.
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How Does TPAC Work?
“It’s a beautiful partnership between Dakota County, the City of West St. Paul, and the school district Community Ed,” said Myran. The building itself is shared between all three organizations—Dakota County rents out the large Dakota Lodge space for weddings and other events, West St. Paul rents out the smaller rooms for other occasions, and ISD 197 oversees TPAC as part of their Community Ed offerings.
What’s it cost? TPAC has no membership fees. Each class or activity has a nominal cost.
- “We decided to not tie our fees to a membership because we want everyone to feel that they can come,” Myran said. “So you just pay for what you want to attend.”
- “One of our goals is to keep it as affordable as possible,” said Myran. Which means fees don’t always cover the full cost, so TPAC is subsidized by Community Ed and supported by private donations. Last year donations totaled $12,646.
Volunteers: “We have a large group of volunteers,” said Myran. Office volunteers, for example: “They basically give one day a week to help in the office with getting programs set up and helping people register for classes, explaining things, letting them know what we offer here.”
Partners matter: TPAC also relies on a long list of partnerships:
- AARP offers tax services.
- DARTS offers health screenings and support groups.
- Trellis offers Medicare counseling.
- Precision Driving offers a safe driving class that can help older adults get an insurance discount.
- Nearby senior living facilities will coordinate events, sending vans full of residents for specific programs.
History: The Thompson Park Activity Center opened in 2002 in the Dakota Lodge building. Before that the group was known as the West St. Paul Area Senior Center and previously housed at Moreland Elementary School and before that the former Sibley High School.
Who Does TPAC Serve?
“We promote it as 55 plus,” said Myran. “[But] we don’t check age. You retired early and you’ve got time? Good for you, come on in.”
The age range runs the gamut, with people in their 90s attending. “People continue to come as long as they have transportation and the mobility to come,” said Myran.
The need: For a lot of the older adults TPAC serves, it’s about meeting needs.
- “They need to get out of the house,” said Myran. “They need to talk to people and have conversations about new things.”
- “A lot of people here are very aware of their needs,” said Myran. “They’re aware of not just their physical health, but their mental health. They know what they need and it doesn’t feel good to be separated from everything, so they understand the benefit.”
What’s Next
“The only thing we’re limited by is space,” Myran said. “We don’t have a large room for exercise classes. We don’t have a swimming pool. Although now the school district has the aquatic center and Community Ed does use that. We’re able to host just about everything else.”
With many community members clamoring for a community center, perhaps one of the biggest challenges TPAC faces is offering community for older adults in a space that’s not a traditional, centralized community center.
“With the layout of the building, we don’t have a lobby, we don’t have that hangout place, which is something we hope for if they expand the building,” Myran said.
That missing piece could be in the works.
Dakota County asked the state for $10 million in bonding this spring for phase two of Thompson Park improvements, which would include an expansion to TPAC’s building. A bonding bill didn’t happen this year, but it could be a possibility in the future.
“They Need to Be Here”
“There’s just nothing greater than someone coming in for the first time and feeling a little unsure. It’s a new place and they don’t know anybody,” says Myran. “And then they start coming and pretty soon they’re part of the fabric of this place.”
That fabric includes committed volunteers who show up every week, dedicated exercisers who hold each other accountable, and a watercolor class that turned into a time of open painting after the instructor died.
“We had a person coming here, I think she started six months ago. Now she’s here three times a week,” Myran said. “We were closed for Labor Day, and she said, ‘You’re closed? I need this place.’”
More
This is the first in a three part series on the Thompson Park Activity center:
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