Greetings from Chapter Chair Hi CARP Members! We waited so long for Summer and voila we’re more than half way through! Are you having a great summer? Summer in PEI is like that expression, “Life’s a beach!” Families are home. Many entertain. Music abounds. Even Elton John will soon be here! Life is b-u-s-y. Seems there’s not enough time to do and see everything we’d like to. HOT NEWS! Next Wednesday August 17th the new federal Seniors’ Minister Alice Wong is coming to town to meet with YOU our CARP members! This is exciting! We are being welcomed at Geneva Villa, 78 Walthen Drive in Charlottetown at 11:45 am for lunch with our special guests Minister Wong and Robert Lynch her Assistant. Lunch will run from 11:50 – 12:30 followed by a special CARP program from 12:30 – 1pm. CARP members are invited to join us at 12:30 pm. Your support is very much appreciated. We have seats for 16 CARP members for lunch. You need to RSVP to me at [email protected] asap to have your lunch ticket reserved at the door. Bring your cameras. This will be a historic day! Our thanks go to Diane McQuaid, owner of Geneva Villa, for providing our lunch and hosting our first Island event of this kind! With the fall provincial election is just around the corner (October 3rd) this is a great opportunity to hear what our Federal Seniors` Minister has to say and what her priorities are. This will no doubt help us to ask good questions of those running provincially in the lead-up to the election. The national CARP leadership has asked us to consider working with our local schools to develop Intergenerational programs. I did this while teaching in Ontario and many of you also may have done something like this. If you are willing and interested to help in a school near you, please send me an email ([email protected]) before the end of August. Please note this has not been presented to the school boards to date as we need volunteers (person power) ready to make it an effective program. Our AGM will take place on November 9th. We are looking for vendors reserve a booth to display their products and or services for Seniors during our “Seniors Expo“ that afternoon. Then we will have an earlier AGM because you never know what November might bring. You may wish to donate your musical talent for 15 minutes to one half hour that afternoon. Please let me know asap as a schedule will be set up. Please stay tuned. More details in our first fall newsletter. Consider being a part of your PEI CARP board. Team work makes the dream work. It is rewarding to help others , especially as we age. We all have challenges, some have more. The future becomes even more important as we are now living longer and many are working longer. We all want quality of life. Working together it is possible for all. This year we are watching our CARP membership grow. I thank you for sharing our CARP vision. The greater our numbers the greater our clout at election time. Be sure that your friends and family and new acquaintances insert Chapter 21 when they renew or begin their CARP memberships. Membership royalties come back to the PEI Chapter. Wearing your pin everywhere is a great conversation starter. Let me know if you need a pin as I will have some with me on Aug. 17th! I look forward to meeting you next week on Wednesday at Geneva Villa, Charlottetown`s finest retirement residence. Savour every second of our PEI summer! With friendship and appreciation of all that you do for others, Barbara Barbara Sinden CARP PEI Chairperson [email protected]