Mother’s Day celebration gives older adults a chance to shine

On Friday, May 8, two days before Mother’s Day, the United Senior Citizen Center of Sunset Park at 475 53rd Street was transformed by staff and volunteers into a runway.\\

The center’s first annual Mother’s Day fashion show invited members to dress up, walk the catwalk and celebrate one another with cheers, music, raffles and prizes. The mood was playful, with judges looking less for designer labels than for confidence, presence and attitude.

“They got to have the attitude,” said Leslie Ruiz, one of the judges and a community outreach specialist with Latino Connection. “Anything that you can wear and you can carry well with your attitude, it doesn’t matter the size, it doesn’t matter if the clothes are expensive or not.”

A member of the United Senior Citizen Center of Sunset Park walks the runway during the center’s first annual Mother’s Day fashion show on May 8.

Before the runway show, guest designer Pedro Cruz Valdez gave a brief style talk focused on clothing, colors and how to create several looks from one outfit. But for Valdez, the discussion was also about confidence.

“Today we’re going to celebrate Mother’s Day, talk a little bit about fashion and help them feel empowered,” Valdez said. “Age doesn’t matter. You have to dress well, feel comfortable and keep moving forward.”

Valdez also created the tuxedo worn by Assistant Director Robert Cruz, who said the event was designed to make members feel welcomed and seen.

“It’s not about what you’re wearing, but how you wear it and how it’s done and the attitude that you have also,” Cruz explained.

Cruz said the center wanted to celebrate Mother’s Day while also addressing one of the biggest challenges facing older adults: loneliness.

“Having a place of gathering and feeling emotionally stable and being accompanied by people that show them that they care, I think that’s our main goal,” he said.

Executive Director Suyapa Blanco Hernández, who became director earlier this year after the retirement of longtime director Grisel Amador, said honoring mothers was at the center of the day.

“Without the moms, we wouldn’t be here,” Blanco Hernández said. “We need to celebrate them, we need to honor them.”

Iraida Christian, 68, is both a member and volunteer at the center. She said the center feels like a family gathering, where members share interests, talk about family and take part in activities from dominoes and mahjong to celebrations throughout the year.

After an appointment with her pulmonologist, Christian said she hurried over so she could still take part in the fashion show.

“The walk is just showing them another part of me,” she said.

Christian said senior centers matter because older adults need places to go and people who notice when something is wrong. She also said younger generations should be more involved with older adults.

“If we have children get involved to see the age process, we may have a larger participation when your parents reach that age,” she said.

After the judged competition, the room itself became the jury, with additional audience-favorite prizes awarded by applause. By then, the criteria were clear: confidence, community and cheers.