DAY CENTRE “SASKARSME” CELEBRATED ITS 20TH ANNIVERSARY

On 3 October, a celebratory event dedicated to the International Day of Older Persons and the 20th anniversary of the “Saskarsme” Day Centre was held at the Daugavpils Cultural Palace.

Representatives of pensioners’ associations and public organisations, the city council leadership, the day centre’s partners and friends, as well as Daugavpils seniors, gathered at the event.

Those present were addressed and congratulated by Council Chair Andrejs Elksniņš, First Deputy Chair Aleksejs Vasiļjevs, Chair of the Social Affairs Committee Nataļja Kožanova and Deputy Chair Viktorija Sporāne-Hudojana, as well as representatives of the Social Service and the day centre’s partners and friends.

The congratulatory speeches were followed by a festive concert featuring the “Saskarsme” creative groups and their friends. The Day Centre’s volunteers—including class and club leaders and heads of interest groups—were honoured.

The origins of the day centre date back to 2002, when the Daugavpils City Day Centre for Pensioners and Persons with Disabilities was opened in a former nursery school building at 4 Liepājas Street. In 2004, it was reorganised into an independent institution of the Daugavpils City Municipality—the “Day Centre for Social Care and Social Rehabilitation”—and in 2017 into the “Saskarsme” Day Centre of the Daugavpils City Municipality institution “Social Service”. Over the years, the centre has become a place where several hundred Daugavpils residents gather and spend their time in an enjoyable way. “Saskarsme” provides opportunities for developing social skills, education, leisure activities, art and amateur artistic activities for people of retirement age, families with children, persons with disabilities and persons recovering from severe, prolonged illnesses. Visitors can express themselves creatively in one of the many applied-arts clubs, dance, sing, exercise and engage in other active pursuits.