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June 2017 Newsletter

In This Issue
Maxine Kingston
heartsandhandsVolunteers
Volunteer-event
Volunteer Appreciation Event!
                  
Festival Italiano - Come experience an authentic Italian Village: food, drinks, music and much more! 
  
Saturday June 3, 12:30-2:30pm 
Ashby Village Office (Courtyard)

Meet the other amazing volunteers, win a raffle prize and enjoy the celebration!
Salesforce

Are you familiar with "Volunteers for Salesforce?" Understanding a new database can be exciting but also mind-boggling, we'd love some help with tips and quick tutorials on navigating this new system! Contact  [email protected]  for more information. 
Upcoming Events
iphone
iPhone and iPad Workshop! 

The Ashby Village Technology Team is offering a workshop on the Apple iPhone and iPad with Sharon Beck, a senior herself who is passionate about helping seniors feel comfortable with technology. 
Sharon will review the basics for those who are new to the iPhone and iPad. More experienced users will have fun learning some hidden secrets of your devices. So bring your iPad or iPhone, and don't miss this fun, entertaining, and educational workshop!

Wednesday, June 7th 2017, 2 - 3:30PM
Ashby Village Office, 1821 Catalina Ave. Berkeley
maxine
Celebrating Creativity

A Conversation with Maxine Hong Kingston 
Earll Kingston & Judith Foosaner
Sunday, June 11, 2:00 - 4:00 PM 
Berkeley City Club  2315 Durant Ave., Berkeley

Sponsored by Ashby Village's Arts and Culture Group, three long-time friends and Village members will present their work and then be interviewed by Naomi Newman (founder Traveling Jewish Theater) about their friendship, their art, and how it has been affected as they've aged. 

 
LRchat
Living Room Chat

Join our June "meet and greet" Living Room Chat! An Ashby Village member opens his or her house to those who  might be interested in joining Ashby Village. You'll have the opportunity to hear what it means to be part of the Village. 

Join us
Sunday June 25, 2017, 2-4 PM
 embracing
Embracing Change Series. 
Inter-generational Dialogue: Can We Talk?
 



Mairin Malarka Meyer and her daughter Una at the Embracing Change Series presented by the social care team about improving communications between parents and their adult children. 'Communicate, don't assume' was one of the main messages.    
 
 AARP
Berkeley accepted by AARP/World Health Organization  Network of age-friendly cities
   

"In order for Ashby Village to realize its mission of supporting people to age and be engaged in their communities as they choose, Ashby Village needs to partner with other organizations to address the broad issues that affect older adults and influence the direction of change in the local community." Steve Lustig, Ashby Village External Affairs Committee Chair, has been involved in an initiative sponsored by Ashby Village to make Berkeley a more senior friendly city. As a result Berkeley was accepted into the AARP/World Health Organization network of age-friendly cities.
people-AV-mairinPeople of Ashby Village
gordon
Gordon Seligson

Gordon Seligson: "Ashby Village makes a lot of sense"

In recognition of National LGBTQ Pride Month this June we celebrate community-building through increased awareness, interaction, and inclusion. A founding member of Ashby Village's LGBTQQA Interest Group, Gordon applauds Ashby Village's efforts to build an inclusive community that mirrors Berkeley's diversity.  "As we grow older, relationships change.  
north-berkeley
North Berkeley Neighborhood group Dinner

North Berkeley
The North Berkeley Neighborhood Group is an 81-member group faced with a challenging terrain. Through a series of pot luck suppers we formed a nucleus group of about 15 individuals. In turn, we identified five new interest groups (dinner, luncheon, happy hour, topics and cultural events) to go along with the two interest groups that were formed several years ago (creativity and pot luck). We have increased the number of members participating in one or more of our groups to 48 including two volunteers.
OnGoingActivitiesOngoing Activities
Flora and fauna of Southern Africa slideshow (right before the Happy Hour). 
with Ashby Village members Audre and Roger Newman.
Friday, June 2, 3 - 4 PM.
1821 Catalina Ave., Berkeley.
                                        

Ashby Village Happy Hour
 
Friday, June 2, 4:00 PM - 5:30 PM.
1821 Catalina Ave., Berkeley.

                                        

Science & Ideas Interest Group
 
Tuesday, June 6, 3 - 4 PM.
1821 Catalina Ave., Berkeley.
First organization meeting!                                                    

EmeryBunch Water Areobics
Wednesday, June 7 at 11 AM
Pool at the Clipper Club of the Watergate Condos, 5 Captain Dr., Emeryville 

                                                        
     
Clarewood I-Group Workshop
Thursday, June 15, 3 PM
For location



Third Monday of the month
June 19, 7:30 pm-9:30 pm





June 10, 10:30 am
June 17, 2 pm
June 20, 11 am

handbook
Updated Ashby Village Member
Member Handbook
 Handbook Now Available

The handbook provides comprehensive information about Ashby Village services, communications, publications, preferred providers, neighborhood and interest groups and more.
 
AV members request your paper or digital copy at the office:  510-204-9200 or [email protected]


closet
NEW! ASHBY VILLAGE TOOL CLOSET

Do you have crutches, walkers, adjustable stools, canes, or small equipment that you no longer need?  Donate to Ashby Village's new  Tool Closet  service.  We will share donated items with other members who need them.
Donated items should be in good working condition and can be dropped of at the Ashby Village Office.  Contact  [email protected]Please call before bringing in items (510) 204-9200

members
ATTENTION MEMBERS! Online platform connects service volunteers and members via email

In April we launched our new volunteer communication platform called Volunteer Connect to our volunteers. This new tool enables them to access and self-select the services they'd like to help you with. This month, we are very excited to launch the second phase which will include members!  
Here's what's new:  
  1. Members will be notified by email when a volunteer accepts their request! (volunteers will still be expected to confirm with members by phone)  
  2. As we do with volunteers, shortly after the request has been filled, members will be sent an email and asked to evaluate the overall experience. It's always nice to hear about how things went...it matters to us!  
We're very excited about being able to provide this service to you! Please let us know if you have any questions.  
NOTE: This only applies to members who have emails addresses.
reading
What we are reading
from Pat Hom
 
September 4, 2016 - The Guardian. By Lynda Graton and Andrew Scott
 
September 11, 2016 - The Motley Fool. By Sean Williams
 
November 28, 2016 - East Bay Times. By Lisa M. Krieger 
 
December 22, 2016 - China Daily. Chai Pingyan contributed
 
January 19, 2017 - BBC NEWS
 
February 10, 2017 - The Globe and Mail. By David Israelson
 
From Charli Depner
 
bulletin
Bulletin Board
 
June 15 is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day
By Charli Depner
 
The United Nations has designated June 15, 2017 World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, "to encourage communities to recognize the problem of elderly abuse, and for countries to create policies that foster respect for elders and provide them the tools to continue to be productive citizens." WHO estimates that one in ten people over 60 experience financial, emotional, physical, or sexual abuse. A proclamation supporting elder abuse prevention will be signed at the June 13 Berkeley City Council meeting. 
More information about elder abuse and prevention can be found at the website of the  Alameda County's District Attorney's Office .

Download pdf of Berkeley Proclamation
Epworth UMC 1953 Hopkins St., Berkeley 94707 

Spring/Summer Film Series
Films that explore racial and social issues from a variety of perspectives and promote cross-racial understanding. Friday nights, 7pm. 
June 2:  Moonlight
June 16:  I Am Not Your Negro 
June 30:  Fences 

Lunch Bunch 
De Young Museum Docent, Alfred Escoffier, will discuss current museum exhibit titled "The Summer of Love Experience; Art, Fashion and Rock and Roll". Thursday, June 15, 11:30-1pm. Bring a bag lunch. Beverages and desserts provided. 
Contact: Susan Jardin @ 510-524-2921.
Free cat bed that measures 26 1/2 x 21 inches and it sits 6 inches up off the floor (metal frame/navy blue canvas material). When she had cats, 3 of them could fit in it at one time. Alternatively, her 76 pound Labrador Retriever used it for several years. If you're interested in it, email Valierie. [email protected] and she can send you a picture. 
chana
In Loving Memory   

Chana Bloch, internationally acclaimed poet, translator, teacher and scholar - and a proud Ashby Village member - died May 19 after a four-year battle with an aggressive sarcoma. For decades, Chana was a beloved teacher at Mills College, where she was a professor of English and director of the Creative Writing Project. She was 77 when she died, at home and surrounded by her family.
Chana's co-translation of the Biblical Song of Songs has been released as a Modern Library Classic. She and Chana Kronfeld won the prestigious PEN Translation Prize for their book of poems by Yehuda Amichai, Israel's best-known poet. In addition to her scholarly work and translations, Chana published five books of her own poetry, written in deliberately accessible language and treating the big issues in life and in her own life with realism, wit and an often disarming directness. The poems won many literary prizes and appeared in numerous magazines, journals and books including The New Yorker, the New York Times MagazineBest Poetry 2015 and the Pushcart Poetry Anthology.
After publishing in 2015 what she assumed would be her final book, Swimming in the Rain, which included selected poems from earlier volumes, Chana surprised herself in the middle of her draining cancer treatments by resuming writing poems, this time turning her eyes unflinchingly to the uncomfortable and uncertain realities of her cancer journey and the prospect of dying.
Chana chose to preview those poems in a special reading for her fellow Ashby Village members last fall, in a presentation that drew about 100 people to the Berkeley City Club and ended with a standing ovation. Several generous donors made possible professional filming of that popular event, and the resulting Ashby Village film will be completed and distributed in late summer or early fall, coinciding with publication of the book of her final poems, The Moon Is Almost Full.
Photos and quotes from an interview with Chana will also be part of the Reframing Aging exhibit opening July 8 in The Village Gallery at Ashby Village's headquarters.
Chana is survived by her husband, Dave Sutter, her son Benjamin and daughter-in-law Trang, her son Jonathan and daughter-in-law Nina and granddaughters Liliana and Stella. Plans for a memorial are pending.

Newsletter co-editors Richard Bermack and  Charli Depner

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