ROME — Running the Mohawk Valley Institute for Learning in Retirement (MVILR) program is a passion inspired by younger days spent with grandma living in their family home, said MVILR Program Coordinator Shawn Essafi.

“I have always cared deeply about giving back to the roots of our community,” Essafi explained. “My grandma used to live with us and that now inspires me to want to give back to the people who started us. They have given us so much and it means a lot to me to be able to give back to them.”

MVILR is a non-profit organization that Essafi said offers educational programming for local seniors to help them “learn, live, grow, move, think, socialize and create.” It began in 1996 and moved to Mohawk Valley Community College’s Rome campus two years ago.

Program facilitators and members joined Essafi to meet with the public Thursday during an MVILR open house at MVCC. Essafi said MVILR has a symbiotic relationship with MVCC ­— the college gives them a dedicated area for their classes and MVCC’s Center for Corporate and Community Education oversees the program while giving it autonomy.

The spring session of classes start Monday, March 20 and registration has started. Classes will be held in person in classrooms, online via Zoom and at satellite locations. They range in format from large lectures to small discussions, with the classes taught by volunteer facilitators, MVILR members and special guest professionals from the community who enjoy sharing their own talents, interests and experiences.

Emails are sent out regularly to facilitators and members of the program to see if anyone has a suggestion of a course he or she would like to take or - even better - like to teach, Essafi said.

“I don’t think we’ve ever said no,” Essafi noted.

Essafi said the third and seventh weeks of the spring session will be “bring a friend” weeks so anyone interested in learning more about MVILR is encouraged to find someone who is involved and tag along.

There were more than 200 members when the last session ended and Essafi expects around the same number if not more for the spring session.

Linda Bloser has been a facilitator for five years and complimented Essafi’s leadership as well as the facilities at MVCC. She likes the dedicated classrooms reserved just for MVILR programs, the easy accessibility from the free parking lot to get to those classrooms, and the way MVCC has “welcomed us with open arms,” she said.

But the best part for Bloser is being with her fellow facilitators and their membership.

“I like being with the people who want to learn, keep their lives vital and give back to the community,” she said.

Cynthia DeTraglia of New Hartford has been a member since 1999, especially enjoying any classes dealing with history and literature, and being able now to take classes she never did in school. She even learned to play Mahjong through the MVILR program.

“I really like the range of the classes, the socialization and being able to keep my mind and my body alive,” DeTraglia said.

For more information on the Mohawk Valley Institute for Learning in Retirement, call 315-334-7761, email mvilr@mcss.edu or visit www.mvcc.edu/mvilr.