Debbie Vasquez helped form the partnership between the city and the Y
Published in the Oct. 14-27, 2015 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Robert Airoldi
Photo by Marty Cheek
Debbie Vasquez connects with Anita Mason and Al Simmons during a recent lunch at the Senior Center.
Debbie Vasquez has some ambitious goals in mind for the senior population of Morgan Hill.
With 25 years working experience at Bay Area YMCAs including several in San Jose, Vasquez has the expertise to serve as the recently hired older adult services supervisor for the Morgan Hill Senior Center. She worked in Morgan Hill in 2004 when the partnership between the city and the YMCA was formed.
“The partnership draws on both strengths of the city and the Y,” she said. “Each has learned about the other. The Y is good at health and wellness and the city is good at pulling the two together with structure. They are good at public input and pricing and maximizing the facility.”
With the partnership humming successfully along, Vasquez has a plan for the future of senior services, both immediate and in the future.
“Our longterm goal is to create an aging-friendly community for the city of Morgan Hill,” she said sitting at her office desk inside the city’s Centennial Recreation Center on West Edmundson Avenue. “I’d love to see a real approach by the community of valuing our older community members.”
Her immediate duties are to assess the needs of the community, learn what seniors want and address those needs.
“We want to grow programs and services based on what the community wants and needs and build a strong volunteer program that establishes key partnerships with other community organizations such as the institute on Aging and Community Solutions,” said Vasquez, who began her new job Sept. 8.
The center serves about 1,500 meals each month. About 2,400 people participate in a program of some kind each month and about 35 people volunteer in some way each month.
The new supervisor recently created a Senior Advisory Committee to ensure Morgan Hill is a place where older adults thrive as members of a community created for all ages. The committee is made up of community members, experts in the field of aging, and they have support from the city, county and Center for Age-Friendly Excellence.
Some of the committee’s short-term projects will be advocacy, strategic planning, fundraising and volunteerism.
“Once we get a solid foundation established we will access our community regarding outdoor spaces and buildings, transportation, social participation, respect and social inclusion, civic participation and employment, communications and information and community support and health services, then work to improve in the areas with the highest need/priority,” she said.
Vasquez, 45, went to the University of Oregon for two years and eventually graduated in 2006 from San Jose State University with a degree in kinesiology and a minor in business. She is married with three adult boys, two step children and a 3-year-old, so she stays busy and enjoys watching her older children blossom. “It’s fun to watch them come into their own and see where they’re headed.”
She’s a triathlete who sees competition as fun and trains six days a week with the Wolfpack, a local racing team. She will run the Morgan Hill Half Marathon race Oct. 25.
She enjoys anything outdoors, especially water-skiing and camping with her family.
Although she’s lived in Gilroy for 20 years, Vasquez said she’s thrilled to be back working in Morgan Hill.
“I love this community and running into people I know,” she said. “I love making a difference in the community and here is an opportunity to make that difference.”
