SAIL (Seniors Acting In Love), a senior ministry at the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection in Garden City, holds a senior exercise class that meets twice a week in the church's parish hall. The seniors work in an environment that addresses their needs and to the level of their interest and capabilities. It offers them an opportunity to increase their endurance, strength and flexibility.

Sue Salko, CSW, coordinator with the Garden City Senior Project and a trained modern dancer and physical fitness instructor, contacted Pastor Harmon at the Lutheran Church and discussed with him the idea of a senior exercise class with herself as instructor and no fee for the participants. He offered the church's parish hall as a meeting place and made it a ministry effort of the church's senior group, SAIL. The classes are open to all seniors in Garden City and surrounding communities.

Initially the class met on Wednesday for one hour and had 12 seniors. In the two years it has been meeting the class has more than tripled in size. The class now meets twice a week, Wednesday and Friday, with each class averaging between 35 and 40 participants.

The seniors exercise to music as diverse as Tina Turner and Eric Satie. At the Wednesday class the exercise is divided between chair exercises and standing exercises. The Friday class incorporates the use of one- and two-pound weights in addition to the standing and chair exercises (participants supply their own weights). The chair exercises strengthen shoulders, neck, hands and wrists for mobility, flexibility and strengthening. The standing exercise strengthens legs, back, arms and overall body. This is for balance, and again flexibility. The weights are used to strengthen arms and shoulder muscles.

Salko leads the class through all the exercises. Her low-keyed, unassuming style blends well with the seniors. She advises them, "If you can't do the exercise, don't try it."

A question was posed to Salko regarding the use of floor mats. As she explained it, this would be difficult because of the lack of space due to the large size of the class. One senior quipped, "That's okay. We don't need them; we could get down on the mats but probably could not get up off them."

Mary Calahan from St. Anne's Roman Catholic Church said she feels so much better after the exercise class." "I have a bounce in my step," she said. Marion and Ed Dettling from Franklin Square have been attending since the classes' inception. They also reported that they feel so much better after the class, adding that the exercises are not difficult and keep them flexible and moving. For more information, please visit www.resurrectiongardencity.org or call 746-4426.