Volunteer of the Month
Archives

November 2019
Linda Sowell

Photo of Linda Sowell

This month we’d like to shine the light on a new, yet not new volunteer. If you read last month’s newsletter, specifically the Activity Spotlite, you would have read a bit about Linda Sowell. Well this month we’d like to shine an even larger spotlight on her as our Volunteer of the Month. Linda is the new Gadabouts Trip Coordinator. She had been working in the Thrift Store and was asked to be a relief in the Trip office. When a vacancy occurred she was asked to take over, which she was more than happy to do. Since then she has been busy scheduling new trips, chaperoning trips on occasion, and generally managing our hustling and bustling trip office. Linda also serves on our Board of Directors. If needed she also helps out at our special events. Originally from Chicago, IL, she moved out to California with her husband who was in the Navy. Once out here she was not content to stay at home raising her two kids (who themselves provided her with five grandkids), but worked in numerous types of jobs. Her main career was in Food Service. She started out at McDonalds as a cashier, and worked her way up to manager. Then she transferred to the school system where she became the Director of Children’s Nutrition for the Bear Valley School District before retiring. Thanks Linda for helping to take our members on trips of a lifetime.

Featured Class

Sketching
Date: October 2, 2019
Time: 8:30 - 10:00 am
Length: 8 weeks
Cost: $8 members
      $8 non-members
Instructor: Robert Placencia
Location: Game Room
Description: Are you a doodler? Or maybe you're a bit sketchy. For our Sketching Class you're perfect. The class is taught by Robert Placencia. He took classes in college, and used to assist in his oil painting class. Although his media is more in oil paintings, sketching is a big part of that so it's a perfect fit. He has been teaching the class for nearly 3+ years now. Robert has been involved in art for over 40 years, having taken art classes in high school and college. He enjoys many mediums including sketching, charcoal, and oil painting. He has even received awards for some of his works. The class will begin with portraits, as it provides the basic foundation that can later be applied to still life and scenery. Students need to bring their own pencils (4H to 6B preferred), a sharpener, as well as a sketch pad. Do not bring writing paper. The size of the sketchpad will depend upon a students personal preference although Robert prefers the large size. The Sketching class will be on Wednesdays, in the Gameroom, and will run for 8 weeks. Cost is $8.

Featured Activity

Tai Chi
Time: Mondays 11:30 a.m.
Cost: $3.00 members
      $3.00 non-members
Location: Exercise Room
Description: The Chinese characters for Tai Chi Chuan can be translated as the Supreme Ultimate Force. The notion of supreme ultimate is often associated with the Chinese concept of yin-yang, the notion that one can see a dynamic duality (male/female, active/passive, dark/light, forceful/yielding, etc.) in all things. Force (or, more literally, fist) can be thought of here as the means or way of achieving this ying-yang, or supreme-ultimate discipline. Or it is possibly from it's origins as a martial art and self-defense technique. Tai Chi as it is more commonly referred to, is practiced in the west today as a moving form of yoga and meditation combined. There are a number of so-called forms (sometimes also called sets) which consist of a sequence of movements. Many of these movements are originally derived from the martial arts and perhaps even more ancestrally than that, from the natural movements of animals and birds. Legend has it that a Taoist monk, first developed a set of 13 exercises that imitate the movements of animals. Some of the movements are even called the Monkey Pick and Horses Mane. It is an exercise almost anyone who can walk can do safely. Tai chi takes the joints gently through their range of motion, while the emphasis on breathing and inner stillness relieves stress and anxiety. Your instructor is Katsuko aka Kats Shiomi and classes held on Mondays and Wednesday from 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m., and the cost is only $3.00 per class. Students should wear comfortable clothing and come ready to find their inner peace.
Chocolate Bingo
By: Mike Sylva
Back in August we hosted a Chocolate Bingo in conjunction with Liz Chavez with Inter Valley Health Plan (IVHP). Chocolate Bingo is just like normal bingo only the stakes are a little bit sweeter. The names on the board were bingo but instead of numbers they were names after various chocolates. So one had to listen for I - Godiva, B - Milk Chocolate to fill out their cards. Also there were no dobbers here. Boards were covered with m&m’s, but you had to be able to withstand the desire to eat them, or you couldn’t cover your board.

If one was lucky enough to hold off eating the markers, and you managed to get a bingo, winners were paid out in chocolate. So at the end, even the losers got to finally eat their markers, so that every sweet tooth was satisfied.

Thanks to everyone who showed up to play, as well as Liz Chavez with IVHP for this fun and tasty event.