Linda’s Musings

Time seems to be flying by this year, with our first Adventures in Learning of 2008 our  Senior Choices Summit, our Financial Planning Series and our AARP Defensive Driving seminar all having come and gone! 

March is the end of our fiscal year and that means its time for some of our Board members to rotate off the Board, having served up to six or seven years.  I’d like to extend my sincere appreciation to the following ‘retiring’ Board members:  William Fox, William Barnhardt, Ray Killian, Karen Harriss and Joe Williamson.  Both Bill Fox and Joe Williamson served as President of the Board during their tenure.  These Board members have been an integral part of this organization and they will be greatly missed. 

I’d like to welcome the following new Board members to The Shepherd’s Center:  Phil Koch, President of ComForcare Senior Services; William McNair, Partner with Shumaker, Loop & Kendirck, LLP; Richard McKnight,  Senior VP and CIO, Novant Health; and Harry Creemers, Director of Development, Charlotte Latin School.

I’m happy to report that our Winter Adventures in Learning was very well attended and our General Session was thoroughly enjoyed week after week.  That’s usually the case when we offer the Artscape series with entertainment from the arts community.  The talent in the Charlotte community is extraordinary and our seniors are very appreciative.  The last General Session was highlighted by dancers from the Arthur Murray Studio in Charlotte, who did their own version of “Dancing with the Stars”.    

The Winter Session also included a Tai Chi class, which was brought back after several years by popular demand.  The class had approximately 40 students who are anxious for the next session to begin so they can continue.  Many thanks to instructor William Wong, who takes time from his real job to come out to teach our seniors. 

Geneology was also a popular class in the Winter session.  It’s always fun to try to find out about your ancestors and this class also included new ways of searching for this sometimes illusive data.

Our Senior Choices Summit provided an excellent program on financial issues for older adults on Tuesday, March 11.  Once again, we are indebted to Dan Starks of Starks Training Institute for serving as our MC.  I also want to send a special thanks to Barbara Shear with First Charter Bank.  She presented a program on reverse mortgages even though earlier that morning she had been involved in a family emergency.  She showed up at The Summit on time and ready to go.  Thanks also to John Maron with the NC Secretary of State’s Office, who presented a program on Financial Fraud; Bill Romeo, who talked about Estate Taxes and Carl Brooks, who updated seniors on Living Trusts. 

The March Senior Solutions Newsletter just went in the mail and you’ll notice that we were able to go to two colors!  This should make the publication easier and more enjoyable to read.  Something new this Spring is the inclusion of our Raffle tickets in the newsletter.  We were able to save a good deal of money by combining the raffle tickets with the newsletter and hope it will be convenient for you as well.  Raffle tickets are also posted on our Web site for your convenience.  Please support The Shepherd’s Center of Charlotte through this raffle.  This is our major fundraiser for the year and your donations are extremely important.  By buying raffle tickets, you help us fund all of our programs and services, which in turn help us to help the seniors in our community.  If you don’t participate in raffles, please send a donation anyway.  Your gift is so very important to our mission of helping to keep seniors in their homes for as long as possible.