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

Fall Class Registration
Date: September 20, 2019
Time: 9:00 to 11:00 am
Length: 8 weeks
Cost: $8.00 members
      $8.00 non-members
Instructor: varies
Location: Game Room
Description: Time to register for the Fall session of Highland Senior Center University classes. Be sure to show-up on registration day as a late fee ($4) applies if you do not register on September 30th. Classes run for 8 weeks and cost $8.

Featured Activity

Scrapbooking
Time: Thursdays 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Cost: Free members
      Free non-members
Location: Sun Room
Description: When we were younger, scrapbooking normally meant pasting pictures or newspaper articles about yourself or someone you knew on some paper. It has become something much more than that. While they still have photos and printed media, scrapbooks, or albums, are also part journal, with handwritten notes, borders, vellum covers, and lots and lots of decorations. One can put as much or as little time and effort into it as desired. Scrapbooking can be done by itself, but is best when done with friends. It becomes a social get together where people trade techniques, and share equipment and supplies. Our scrapbooking group meets every 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm. So if you're looking for something fun, creative, and social, come on down and get ready to share your memories.
Remember to Celebrate Grandparents Day
By:
It’s time for us to thank those of us, who have the honor of being called Grandma or Grandpa. September 12th is National Grandparents Day. It was the brainchild of Marion McQuade, a housewife. Her primary motivation was to champion the cause of lonely elderly in nursing homes. She also hoped to persuade grandchildren to tap the wisdom and heritage their grandparents could provide. Something we can all understand. Then, in 1978, President Jimmy Carter proclaimed that National Grandparents Day would be celebrated every year on the first Sunday after Labor Day.

Grandparent’s Day even has an official song “A Song for Grandma and Grandpa,” by Johnny Prill, as well as an official flower, the “Forget-me-not,” symbolizing that the memories of grandparents are not faded out with the span of time. So make sure to spend some time with the grandkids and talk to them. Let them know what life was like growing up and how things have changed (for the worse and the better). Give them a family ancestry; teach them about their lineage. After of course they take you to dinner!