JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Taking a break from adulting through friendship, fitness, fun and fellowship.
That’s what the 40 + Double Dutch Club aims to do for women. It’s a sisterhood with more than 100 chapters including Jacksonville.
Pamela Pelt-Robinson started the group in Chicago, Illinois in 2016 with just seven members. It's now an international organization with chapters in Germany, Canada and Israel. But, no matter where you go to experience the 40 + Double Dutch Club, you'll quickly understand it’s about so much more than jumping rope.
Those of us of a certain age remember the good ole' days.
“We were out there until the streetlights came on,” said Althea Rogers-Baker. “That's when you knew you had to get back in the house.”
Rogers-Baker no longer misses those simpler times as a child growing up in Brooklyn, New York because she's now helping to recreate them as captain of the Jacksonville 40 + Double Dutch Club sub-club.
She encourages women to join in the meetups every Thursday evening at 7 p.m. at Memorial Park in Riverside. The women, all 40 years and older, can be seen in the park hula hooping, playing hopscotch and jumping Double Dutch. Rogers-Baker often teaches the ladies who attend how to master jumping rope. Teaching is just a part of who she is. The mother of two retired from the New Jersey Department of Education after 35 years in 2019 and moved to Jacksonville.
“When I first moved here it was in December,” said Rogers-Baker. “COVID hit in March [2020]. Everything shut down I had no friends here… it was a very dark period for me. I was just emotionally done and depressed and really considering moving back but then, 40 + was the stir that helped me feel like I belonged to something again.”
“There are so many different stories as to why women come in, but the whole basis is they need to kind of release, women need an outlet,” said Linda Latson. “We need to be able to pour back into ourselves.”
Latson is a mother of four, grandmother of two and the delegate for 40+ Double Dutch Club's Florida Chapters. She doesn't miss a step.
"I have my fit bit on and right now, 427 calories within 45 minutes," Latson said. “This is a way that women can come together and just forget about adulting, forget about husbands, forget about pets, forget about kids right and just be a kid again themselves.”
Latson says it’s all about empowering women, strengthening their mental health and encouraging physical fitness.
