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Village Orientation Sessions
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The next Village 101 orientation is scheduled for
Sunday, November 12th at 12:00 p.m. at the Hollywood Library (4040 NE Tillamook Ave.)
Anyone interested in learning about the Village movement in general, and the Northeast Village PDX in particular is urged to attend. No reservations are necessary.
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The NE Village Circles Program Is Coming
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Enthusiasm is building among NE Village planners for this opportunity to build community by having small neighborhood-based groups of 5-8 folks gather several times to socialize, eat, play, study, or do whatever they want in the process of getting to know one another. So far, about 25 people have expressed interest in being part of this adventure, which will start early in 2018.
It is not too late to sign up - just call the Village office and let them know you are interested and someone from the Program Committee will contact you within the next month or so. Our goal is to get the groups assigned this fall so they can start meeting early next year. If you have questions, the Village office can put you in touch with Leanne Logan or Janet Jump.
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Making Member to Member Connections
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Here's another way involvement in NE Village can expand your social network. If you have a particular activity, hobby or interest you'd like to pursue with others, send the newsletter an "ad" inviting people to join you (
info@nevillagepdx.org
). Please provide contact information for responses. If you don't want to start a group yourself, answer somebody else's ad and meet some new potential friends.
Wanted: People to dine out periodically at different ethnic or other interesting restaurants. Contact Ann Anderson at
annpetera@comcast.net.
Wanted: Art photographers to show and tell with other NEV art photographers. Contact Nona Glazer at
nglazer@pdx.edu
Wanted: NEV friends for Living Room Theater movies; see and discuss over coffee after film. Contact Nona Glazer at
nglazer@pdx.edu
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Music, Art, Film and Language Arts Websites
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Editor's Note: Have you found any intriguing websites you'd like to share with NE Villagers? If so, send the URL to
nglazer@pdx.edu
and we'll publish the links in an upcoming newsletter.
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Special Events - November
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Open to All
NEIGHBORHOOD WALK: Sellwood
Join us for a walk around Sellwood, one of the oldest neighborhoods in SE Portland. We'll find a place to have lunch after the walk.
Date and time:
Monday
November 13, 10:00 am - 1:00 pm (approx.)
Place: Meet at the corner of SE Knapp and SE 22nd Avenue
Reservation required
. Please contact the NEV Office at 503-895-2750 or
info@nevillagepdx.org
if you would like to join us.
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Finding Task Significance in Retirement
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Editor's Note: This is the fourth in a series of articles on retiring well, written by retired professor of psychology Tracy McDonald, who is also a member of NE Village PDX.
We now arrive at task significance, the fourth of five factors that can lead to enriched, high quality lives in retirement. Task significance refers to how much we feel we are making a significant, positive difference in the world. Humans are social animals, and it feels good to do things that help others or help the planet. Most people think of jobs like doctor, teacher, or political advocate as being high in task significance. But task significance exists far beyond any one profession. There are an infinite number of actions we can take that directly or indirectly benefit others.
Each individual personally determines whether an activity has significance for them. A friend may expound on all the positive difference she is making as a volunteer math tutor. But if the thought of pulling out the math books makes you sweat, you aren't likely to get the enriching benefits your friend is. Moreover, volunteering does not have to involve working with others to be working towards a common good.
Furthermore, there are times we can't see the direct result of our activities or actions. For example, when you participate in a march supporting science, your intention might be to emphasize the necessity of science to our politicians and the public. It might be useful to remind yourself of the specific outcomes you hope your participation yields. Some of us might feel more enriched by volunteering to teach English to immigrants where the direct results are built into the teaching process.
How to experience more significance? Reflect back on your life to times you felt enriched by helping, whether it was for the benefit of one person or the entire planet. If you remember feeling you got more out of helping than you gave, or you simply felt the glow of being of service, you have experienced task significance.
Homework: Notice when you engage in activities that seem significant and gratifying to you. The more often you notice good feelings, the more you set yourself up to experience them again. One way to keep the task significance juices flowing is to engage in one act of kindness each day, then notice how you feel. Hold the door for someone, pet a dog, or give another driver right of way. On days you volunteer with NE Village, you'll get an extra jolt of task significance!
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Governing Council Elects New Leaders
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At the September 13 annual meeting, Village members unanimously elected new Governing Council members who will serve for two-year terms. The next day, the Governing Council held its monthly meeting and elected new officers.
Susan Bach is now the NE Village chair and Margaret Baldwin the co-chair,
essentially swapping roles from what they were doing previously. Susan will facilitate the Governing Council meetings, oversee office personnel and procedures (including the Club Express software that tracks service requests) and oversee Village communications. Margaret will take the lead on finding a temporary office location and managing pilot projects such as Living Cully.
Susan and Margaret will both meet with Village committee chairs from time to time, oversee NE Village contacts with other villages, and do strategic planning. Special thanks to Susan and Margaret for the many hours it will take to do all this work.
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Village Volunteer Spotlight: Michelle Ferroggiaro
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Michelle Ferroggiaro personifies the adage, "If you want to get something done, ask a busy person to do it." The mother of three active kids and a former ICU nurse, she has an impressive array of organizational and prioritizing chops, and she puts them to work where it counts.
Michelle and her family returned to Portland in 2015 after living in Atlanta for five years. She's originally from Missouri, and still enjoys big family reunions there at her parents' home. When she noticed a few activities were becoming difficult for Dad (like wielding the hedge clippers), she started thinking how good it would be for older folks to have a bit of help with some of those activities. Finding the Village movement thriving in Portland, she was eager to get involved.
From Command Central at her bright and spacious Irvington home, Michelle talks about her favorite volunteering jobs - the ones when she gets to visit with, and maybe even work alongside, Village members. She especially likes the way volunteering fosters community right where she lives, sometimes even right around the corner. She finds satisfaction in details, and says that sometimes the best jobs are the little ones that don't take long, but make getting on with their day just that much easier for members. And of course, she's happy to spend as much or as little of the usual two-hour volunteer slot as it takes to make that kind of difference.
It appears that her enthusiasm and energy are contagious. Michelle says her kids are on board with the Village mission and interested in how every generation's part in nurturing the community elders can keep them safely and happily at home for as long as possible.
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Newsletter Considers Bimonthly Publication
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Anticipating the holidays, stuffed turkeys and crammed calendars, we're publishing this issue of the NE Village newsletter in a combined November/December format.
For 2018, we are considering continuing bimonthly newsletter publication. Village events would continue to be publicized mid-month, every month, via the calendar that members, volunteers, and supporters now receive via email or snail mail. Updated information on Village activities is always available on the website under the Calendar tab.
This is
your
newsletter, your Village stump, a tool you can use to connect with fellow villagers. The newsletter editor, Pat Vivian, is always looking for fresh copy, so if you have something to contribute, please contact the Village office and let us know.
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