Sunshine Place: A ‘Disneyland’ connecting seniors to next generations

Due to technology, people are both more connected — and disconnected — than ever before.

In today’s social media era that is supposedly making it easier for people around the globe to link to each other, mental health issues arise not only among the youth but also among seniors.

According to the World Health Organization, about 14 percent of adults aged 60 and over live with mental disorders, most commonly depression and anxiety, which are often caused by loss of social connection, among others. As younger generations become more entangled with digital connection, seniors who cannot catch up with digitalization find it hard to engage with younger ones.

Studies show that proactive mental health support is essential to improve quality of life and relationships between seniors and the loved ones they are taking care of or are taking care of them.

Aware of these needs, SM Foundation established Sunshine Place, located in No. 56 Jupiter Street, Barangay Bel-Air, Makati City, as a recreation center for seniors. SM Foundation Inc. founder Felicidad T. Sy, in her foreword for the Sunshine Place book Finding the Sun, said that the recreational area for seniors “was a wonderful and successful idea for more and more people to find happiness later in life.”

According to her, almost every Friday, she went to Sunshine Place for Mass and then she enjoyed joining the potluck lunch.

“I am always there for their parties, always heartened by the joy I feel, bursting out of the men and women I meet,” Sy shared.

Although initially designed to cater to seniors, Sunshine Place has evolved through the years to include children and everyone from all ages and generations due to its universal and timeless activities that appeal to kids and kids-at-heart.

For those looking for life-enriching activities for summer, school break or all-year-round, Sunshine Place offers regular workshops for all ages on Mindful Movement (Tai Chi and Qi Gong); Ikebana Sogetsu; painting, fitness training, music (therapy, voice lessons and instruments) and dance (tap dance, ballet, chair dance, social ballroom, etc.). The multi-level center has its own gym, roof deck, events center, dance studio, arts and crafts centers, spa or wellness facility and even its own restaurant, Happy Garden Café, from where seniors and those with special dietary requirements can order delicious gourmet but affordable food fit for their health and lifestyle.

Every Friday is Decoupage day for Sunshine Place’s “De Coopers” group, and everyone is invited to join. Decoupage, according to group “teacher” for nearly two years, Tess Colayco, is “the French technique of decorating using paper cutouts on all sorts of surfaces — fabric, metal, glass.”

“It has so many practical applications. You can use it for your own home, for decoration. It’s a venue for being creative; for nurturing your creativity,” Colayco said of Decoupage, which she recommended for finding that inner “artist” in anyone.

Talking about seniors and digitalization, she stumbled upon this new hobby via the internet. “During the pandemic, our porcelain teacher went back to Perth, and when she left, we wondered what are we going to do. On my own, I started doing Decoupage from just looking at the internet since I was doing a lot of internet stuff. And when my friends saw it, they said, ‘Let’s do that!’ And before we knew it, every Friday… we’ve been doing it to just have fun,” she relayed in an exclusive DAILY TRIBUNE interview.

Decoupage, according to her, gives their group a chance not only to enjoy their twilight years, but even use their products to raise funds for charity. Through the art, the group has been able to churn out bangles, bags, bag charms, home décor and other artworks that have been featured in Sunshine Place’s bazaars.

“It’s fun! We enjoy coming here every Friday. It’s like play day, therapy,” said Colayco, who also enjoys dancing, exercise and painting at Sunshine Place.

“Sunshine Place has really achieved its goal of giving wellness… before, it was just seniors, now, there are kids. It caters to the whole person, total well-being.”

Besides Decoupage, Atty. Ma. Victoria “Vicky” Ortega-Pollisco is also into oil, acrylic and porcelain painting, which she considers as an icebreaker from her legal profession.

“It frees me from thinking about contracts,” she quipped in an interview with DAILY TRIBUNE. “It’s just colors, shapes, shade, light and dark, perspective, depth…”

She has been painting on-and-off since 1993, but has been doing it more since she joined Sunshine Place in 2015 under mentor Fidel Sarmiento. Her latest exhibition so far was during her birthday last 23 January.

Last 2022, she made it as far as a finalist in the annual national GSIS painting competition and this year, she is painting another entry for the contest. Come September, she and other artists are participating in Sunshine Place’s Marian-themed exhibit, featuring different depictions of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Indeed, Sunshine Place, said Pollisco, takes care of the person holistically — heart, body, mind and soul.

“In here, you see different age ranges… you see life unfolding before you,” she affirmed.