Learning, food, and prizes, along with questions and laughter were all part of the Guelph Chapter’s Fall Debut Meeting, on September 11th in the evening.
Held at Guelph’s Evergreen Seniors’ Centre, members – and guests – heard two hot presentations, had the opportunity to win great door prizes and to taste delicious sweets at break time.
Eva Ollino, chair, opened the meeting with introductions of the Board, and a brief overview of the Chapter’s Events Agenda into fall 2014, along with a request for volunteers in a number of areas. The Agenda until the end of this year, includes the October 1st, CARP flag raising ceremony at 10 a.m. with refreshments to follow. In November the meeting topic is a financial one and the Chapter will be holding its first Christmas Holiday Reception in the first half of December. Next year’s agenda includes meetings on topic such as Financial Literacy, Nutrition, Physical Health, etc. The Chapter’s first Annual Meeting will be held in March.
There’s a need for volunteers to handle membership contacts, sponsorships, marketing and communication (along with a webmaster).
The first speaker was Anthony Quinn, Director Community Development, providing an overview of CARP successes and the challenges that we as seniors face. The questions asked, and the post-presentation circle around him indicated a high level of involvement by our members.
Our second guest speaker was Donna McCaw, a noted author and speaker on retirement. She has just published a new book, It’s Your Time. Her prime point is to be prepared for lots of changes. There are emotional issues in moving from the work world to the world of retirement; lots of requirement to keep tabs on the financial facts of retirement; and the variety of health issues that we might have to tackle can be difficult to understand and deal with at times. Important also are two broad areas of human activity – relationships and dealing with leisure time.
The door prizes were magnificent – They ranged from $25.00 to $120.00 donations of items from local businesses.
And the sweets – mouth-watering. Thanks goes to Chartwell Royal on Gordon for the deserts, refreshments and sponsoring the meeting site as well.
