STAFF SPOTLIGHT
As our members come and go from our centre, our team members are always working hard to make your experience at the centre the best it can be. Many of you have likely met or talked to them, but may not have had the chance to properly meet them! For the next while, we will be picking one of our wonderful team members to introduce to our community each month.
Lorena – Community Engagement Manager
What is your role and a typical day?
Community Engagement Manager for WE Seniors, and I also serve as the Operations Manager for the WE Seniors Strathcona County, our satellite location.
How long have you been with WESeniors?
8 years.
What music plays in your car?
I am a huge lover of music so a little bit of everything but my favorite music is pop punk bands like Simple Plan. I have also developed a love of country music since I learned to play guitar 10 years ago.
What part of your work do you enjoy most?
Everything! I am very fortunate to have a wide scope of duties… I help with our communication platform, do some of the design work, do presentations in the community, and meet some wonderful business owners who form our Friends of WE Seniors. I am also involved in planning events like Older, Bolder, Better and I often am involved in meetings with Haidong and planning our centre’s future.
What is one project, program, or task you’re especially proud of?
In Edmonton, it would be the WE Seniors Amazing Race and Challenge. When i came up with the idea, it was during the pandemic. We wanted to do something fantastic for our members so I called all of our Friends of WE Seniors, asked them if they would be interested in creating an amazing race with us where our members could race around Edmonton, visit all of our partners, play some old fashion games and win prizes. They all said “yes” and 30 days later we had over 100 members participating!
The WE Seniors Roadshow in Strathcona County is also something I am really proud of. We host some amazing presentations and events at our office in Sherwood Park but we found that the rural seniors are not interested in driving into Sherwood Park so in June 2025, I decided “if they won’t come to us, we will go to them”. I reached out to the 11 communities within Strathcona County and asked them if they would let us use their halls to host a fun free bbq and event for the seniors in their communities. Thankfully they all said yes. Next up, I invited all of our Friends of WE Seniors Strathcona to join us. We had no real budget for it, but all of the businesses supported us and each of them took turns sponsoring things like the cake, bottled water, potatoe chips, etc. and we covered the costs of the BBQ.
I had no idea what the response would be so I was absolutely thrilled when over 400 seniors attended the 11 events we hosted! Our CEO was able to take this initiative, turn it into a grant application and he found us funding to host 36 roadshows in 2026!
What is something people might be surprised to learn about your position?
How little I am in the office. I am only at the centre about 1 day a week.
Hobbies or interests outside of work?
I love to play the guitar. I bought an e-bike 2 years ago so love going to 20 to 30km rides through out river valley. I also love to travel. I went on a 6 week roadtrip across Canada with my mom last summer and next year I hope to spend a month travelling around Alberta with my husband
Do you have a favourite memory or fun story from your time with WESeniors that you’d like to share?
There are so many, I think I could write a novel about my time here at the centre!
One story I love to tell is the time Haidong and I invited our City Councilor Andrew Knack, our MLA, Jon Carson and our MP Kelly McCauley to visit our centre for International Day Of Older Persons. Our goal was to dispel the stereotypes and myths around seniors. When people hear the word “senior” they picture frail, vulnerable people so we invited our 3 representatives to come play pickleball with our members.
All 3 were great sports and it was fantastic to watch our members (aged70+) showcasing their competative spirit and love of the game. Our MP Kelly summed up how things went “Joining friends at Westend Seniors Activity Centre to celebrate National Seniors Day with pickleball! I’ll note the seniors barely broke a sweat while Andrew Knack and I were panting and struggling to keep up.” !
What have you learned from seniors?
Never quit moving or learning!
If you could master a new skill?
Swimming! I would love to be able to lane swim at the YMCA.
Favorite song or book?
Sacrafice by Sinead O Connor – it is a haunting cover of an Elton John song.
Pickleball vs members?
The members!