The Paradise Center dances through the decades

Longboat Key
Neighbors

The Paradise Center is a long-standing nonprofit that offers a range of high-quality services to the residents of Longboat Key. On the other hand, it’s kind of a party central.

Fittingly, the annual fundraiser was a dress-up dance party called Dancing Through the Decades.

“We have a reputation to uphold for having fun parties," CEO Suzy Brenner said. "We have a couple people that literally only come to our parties because they like to dance. They don’t want to sit down for dinner for an hour and a half. They want to come in, have a glass of wine, dance, say 'Hi' to friends, and go.”

Over 60 people bought tickets for the dance, and for those who didn’t want to miss the start of the Super Bowl, it was playing in the other room.

Harry’s Continental Kitchens set up a buffet and passed around trays of appetizers. It was the perfect pre-game party made more fun by trading football jerseys for wild outfits.

Guests fully embodied their decades and all the accouterments. Brenner was puffing on a cigarette with attitude, while Carol Paschel was waving her martini glass in the air as if she was ringing a bell.

Hippies filled the room with peace signs and headbands. But Irina LaRose added some 1950s greaser to the mix with a Pink Ladies jacket, and Donna Sharp Blaney pulled up her leg warmers for a hot pink throwback to 1980s dance aerobics.

The Paradise Center’s mission and funding

At the Paradise Center, fun and games are part of the mission.

“Our mission is to help prevent isolation and loneliness. Our average age on Longboat Key is 70, and loneliness is an epidemic among seniors,” Brenner said. “It’s bad for your physical health, your mental health and everything to be feeling alone and lonely.”

Another aspect to the mission has been to get healthcare providers practicing on the island, and the center has been successful with the Medical Suites it oversees in the Tidewell building. Doctors of varying specialties use the fully equipped offices on a rotating basis.

While the organization is well established, fundraising is challenging because of its location and the demographic it serves.

“There are grants around, but we just can’t compete with children who don’t get enough food to eat or sex trafficking, and I get it,” Brenner said. “But it’s a challenge.”

It costs about $300,000 a year to run the center, which started out of a room in the Longboat Chapel in 2008. It was called Aging in Paradise, and the chapel didn’t charge rent. Over the past 15 years, the senior center has expanded its services to include a range of classes, health screenings, entertainment options and even travel opportunities.

“We used to have a few angel donors that we could always count on if unexpected expenses popped up; unfortunately, they have either passed away or moved away,” Brenner said, “So that’s been an added challenge to our bottom line.”

One of those angel investors was Arnold Simonsen. He died in 2019 after spending the previous 17 years donating millions of dollars to various local causes from the homeless to the arts. When Brenner set up a fund for The Paradise Center at the Community Foundation of Sarasota County, Simonsen made the first donation of $500,000. The boardroom in the Tidewell building is dedicated to him.

The plaque outside reads, “Without Arnold Simonsen, The Paradise Center would not exist…The Longboat Key community is indebted to Arnold for having the vision and passion for a full-service, year-round senior center. Arnold, you are missed.”

author

Lesley Dwyer

Lesley Dwyer is the community reporter for Longboat Key and a graduate of the University of South Florida. After earning a bachelor’s degree in professional and technical writing, she freelanced for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Lesley has lived in the Sarasota area for over 25 years.