Elderly participants at Mt Barker’s Wundalea Day Centre are ditching bingo in favour of virtual boxing, ten pin bowling, golf, tennis and baseball using Nintendo Wii, thanks to a new project sponsored by Australian owned bb’s cafe.

The local Day Centre is one of the first of over 50 Australian facilities to receive a Nintendo Wii and Sports game to include as an innovative part of their residents’ activity program. bb’s café, Mt Barker owner, Glennis Fantis, said she was thrilled to have the opportunity to be involved in such a unique project.

“No matter what your age or state of health, your playing days are never over,” Mrs Fantis said.
“Through clever use of game technology and the enthusiasm of young volunteers, this project has not only breached the age barrier, but the generation gap as well.”

bb’s café, Mt Barker Manager, Kylie Greening, said the project had been such success, bb’s café Mt Barker donated a second remote control to the centre to make the game more accessible for participants.

“Nintendo Wii has been so popular at Wundalea Day Centre, the centre purchased a big screen TV to support it and some staff even use their breaks to have a quick game of virtual tennis or bowling with the participants,” she said.

“Wundalea Day Centre participants have even visited us at our bb’s café for lunch!”

The program has proved so successful, Wundalea Day Centre Coordinator, David Kenning, has been asked to do an organisational-wide presentation on the benefits of using the Nintendo Wii and the fun and enjoyment it creates.

An initiative of Volunteering Queensland, the bb’s cafe Intergenerational Volunteering: Wii Sports Project, involves primary or high school aged volunteers who teach elderly people the tricks behind good game technique, and who participate in mixed teams as part of regular competitions aimed at increasing physical fitness.

Information about how to become a participating facility is available on the Volunteering Queensland website at www.volqld.org.au or call (07) 3002 7600.

There are more than 46 bb’s cafés operating across Australia, employing over 460 staff and serving over 3.3 million cups of coffee a year. The bb’s café franchise network is owned and managed by Retail Food Group (RFG), a leading Australian retail food brand manager and franchiser.

RFG is the franchiser and intellectual property owner of the Donut King, bb’s café, Brumby’s and Michel’s Patisseries systems.