![\"Maricela](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1791175930_334_19566258-50fb-4e3a-945e-0f88c72a1328_1618183236.jpg\")
<\/a>SACRAMENTO, Calif. \u2014<\/p>\nEvery Wednesday, nearly 90 Latino seniors gather at the Hart Senior Center in Sacramento for “Club Los Manitos,” a weekly celebration of life, culture, and community that has been thriving for nearly three decades. <\/p>\n
“Don’t make me a doctor’s appointment cause Wednesday is my day here at Manitos,” said Martha Hern\u00e1ndez Salazar, a member of the group. <\/p>\n
The club began with just 10 members and has grown significantly over the years. <\/p>\n
“When it started, it was like 10 people when my mother-in-law was here, but now it’s like 100. It grew throughout the years,” Salazar said. <\/p>\n
The group has become a vital source of connection and support for its members. <\/p>\n
“It brought us all together, we’re concerned of each other. We call each other especially during COVID,” Salazar said. <\/p>\n
The gathering fosters a shared culture that extends beyond nationality and age. <\/p>\n
“It’s very important in my opinion to be with people where you totally identify with,” said Galo Tovar, another member of the group. “In this case, older adults. We share a culture, it’s not the Latin culture \u2013 it’s culture related to age, experience, to health.”<\/p>\n
Members also embrace their cultural heritage, often blending languages and traditions. “Puedo verte y decir ‘ay, que bonita se ve’ or I can say, ‘oh how, pretty,’ I can switch like that. {snaps fingers} Hablo Spanglish,” Mauri Murillo said. <\/p>\n
Tovar added, “I personally appreciate these opportunities for Latino adults to speak Spanish.” <\/p>\n
For many, the group offers a rare chance to form new connections later in life. <\/p>\n
“In this society, we’re compartmentalized by age, right, we separate it,” Tovar said. “It’s hard to meet adults in a coffee shop or a concert or something like that.” <\/p>\n
Salazar noted that the group provides something unique compared to family relationships.<\/p>\n
“It’s something different. Family members, well they’re not there yet, they’re not elderly as myself,” she said. <\/p>\n
For some, the community also brings a sense of spirituality. <\/p>\n
“I’m with my family, of course I love my family but it’s a different relationship. This to me is like going to church because it’s very spiritual, you know,” Tovar said. <\/p>\n
This story was produced as part of our 2026 Project CommUNITY special for Hispanic Heritage Month.<\/p>\n
See more coverage of top California stories here<\/a> | Download our app<\/a> | Subscribe to our morning newsletter<\/a> | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Latino seniors celebrate culture and connection at Sacramento\u2019s Hart Senior Center Club Los Manitos gathers nearly 90 Latino…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485435,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[7,189794,179,16273,38420,189797,189793,189802,189795,189796,189798,28167,121,123,122,87277,189801,189799,6610,4190,316,189800],"class_list":["post-485434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-california","tag-club-los-manitos","tag-community","tag-connection","tag-cultural-heritage","tag-galo-tovar","tag-hart-senior-center","tag-latino-adults","tag-latino-seniors","tag-martha-hernandez-salazar","tag-mauri-murillo","tag-older-adults","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news","tag-senior-center","tag-seniors-club","tag-spanglish","tag-spanish","tag-support","tag-wednesday","tag-weekly-gathering"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}