What I consider to be my second family operates out of the Lake Charles-Ward 3 Recreation Center at 3210 Power Center Parkway. We get together most days of the week to exercise, walk, play bean bag baseball, eat popcorn on Fridays and shoot the bull when we have some free minutes.

The many friendships I have made there since I discovered what a great workout place it happens to be is unbelievable. There is an important property tax renewal vote coming up April 29 that provides funds to help operate that recreation center and 11 other facilities in Ward 3.

The number of people who use those facilities runs into the many thousands. Indoor basketball and outdoor recreation fields for soccer and other sports draw so many people to the Power Center on Saturdays it’s difficult to find a place to park.

The Power Center has excellent swimming pools. There are also Yoga lessons, dance classes, chair aerobics and chair Yoga. Special events like Veterans Day, Mardi Gras and health fairs are other attractions.

Wayne became one of my early friends about eight years ago while I was lifting some weights in the weight room.

“How old are you,” Wayne asked. When I told him I was 82 he simply said, “You hell, man!” He and I have been fist-bumping ever since.

Ron, who is no longer with us, was another good friend. He used to sit on the pullup machine for a long time. However, when he learned it was my first exercise, he always got down and let me do my thing.

I call Chester the Road Runner because he does 5 miles on the track at a fast clip. The friendship numbers keep  growing and I won’t try to name them all for fear of leaving someone out.

I made some mistakes during my early exercise days. Once, I pulled an exercise bar down on the top of my head so hard I had to get some first aid in the office.

A young woman named Lee gave me some excellent instructions on how to use the equipment in the weight room. Her advice has been beneficial and has probably saved me a lot of pain. One day I tried to tell a fellow doing sit-ups what Lee showed me, but he rejected my advice. So I quit giving any.

If anyone had told me I would someday be playing bean bag baseball, I would have told them they were crazy. Well, I’m playing twice a week now and it’s one of the most enjoyable times of my week.

I compete in bean bag baseball with the A-team from the Power Center during the annual Southwest Louisiana Senior Games at McNeese State University. I am also in the 1-mile walk competition.

Jo Ann, my late wife, and I used to walk at the indoor track at McNeese in the late-1980s where she worked in the student services office. Jamie, my daughter, and I also walked there. It’s where I first walked with Nancy, another great friend who exercises at the Power Center.

Jamie joins me to walk five days a week. She, too, has made many friends there. She usually meets me about 9:15 a.m. and the bull-shooters sitting in the lobby out front tell me my resting time is over when she arrives.

Some who are reading this column might ask, “What’s the big deal?” Well, it’s because that April 29 tax renewal is extremely important and it’s the only proposition on the Calcasieu Parish ballot. Voter turnout is already too low and I don’t want people to miss this one.

Recreation District No. 1 of Ward 3 is asking voters to renew the 5.5 mill property tax for 10 years beginning in 2025. The tax brings in an estimated $4.9 million a year to help run those 12 recreation facilities. Only Ward 3 voters will be casting ballots.

Those of us who use the weight room pay $10 a month and people pay for the classes that are available in order to help finance operation of the facilities managed by the Ward 3 recreation district.

Kip Texada is executive director of all of the Ward 3 centers and we see him often. The managers and clean-up crews keep them extremely clean and fully operational. Mona Doshier manages the Power Center and Beth Rist manages the Enos Derbonne center on Lake Street where I have also exercised.

I look forward to my time at either place and keep making new friends and greeting old friends. Try it some time. You’ll like it. And don’t forget to vote April 29.