Welcome to The Santiva Heartbeat... November 2023 Newsletter

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Welcome to The Santiva Heartbeat - News From the Santiva Islanders, our e-newsletter full of updates, event dates, and information for our members. The Santiva Islanders is an organization designed for all adults, offering exercise classes, special events, trips, health and wellness programs, social gatherings, seminars and lots of camaraderie.


We serve active adults on Sanibel, Captiva, and the surrounding area. Whether you are a year-round resident, part-time resident or visitor, please join us!

Books, Jewelry and Accessories Sale


A Books, Jewelry and Accessories Sale will take place Saturday, November 11 from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm at the Sanibel Rec Center. You may know that Gene's Book store will not reopen on the Island due to the impact of Hurricane Ian. Gene has donated a large variety of non-fiction and fiction books for our fundraiser. Please join us to honor our beloved independent book store that was a fixture on the island.

There will also be vintage jewelry and accessories for sale that you don't want to miss.

Calling Volunteers with Trucks and Spare Time on Friday, November 10. 




As we get ready for our Books, Jewelry, & Accessories Sale, we could use a member or two with trucks who could help us load and deliver books from Gene’s warehouse facility on San Carlos to the Sanibel Recreation Center. The time commitment is about 4 hours start to finish. We’ll meet at the warehouse at 10:00 am on Friday, November 10, load the boxes (they’re in small U-Haul boxes so they should be manageable), then drive to the recreation center where we’ll unload them. Feel free to bring your friends. The more the merrier. 



If you’re interested in helping, please email Laura Korn at [email protected]

ANNOUNCEMENT OF MEMBERSHIP DUES POLICY AND DUES INCREASE


  • Annual Membership Dues for Island Seniors, Inc. (DBA Santiva Islanders) will be increased to $25 beginning with the 2024 membership year. This is necessary due to loss of funding by the City of Sanibel and increase in expenses.  


Note: There has been no increase of dues for nearly 20 years. Any person who feels they cannot afford to pay the dues may petition the Board for an exclusion from paying dues for one year by emailing us at [email protected] or calling (239) 413-7324.


  • Members will be notified of payment of annual dues in November of each year. This notification will be by an announcement in the monthly Newsletter. An additional notice will be emailed directly to members. 


  • Payment is due January 1 of each year. There is no late fee or proration of dues if paid later in the year.  


  • Members who do not pay their dues by the due date may be placed on an inactive list after three months.  


  • Members who join and pay the full dues after November 1 of each year will be considered full members for the succeeding year.


  • Members who are 90 years of age or older will receive free lifetime membership. Please email us at [email protected] if you qualify for this benefit so we can properly reflect your honorary status in our records. 


Thanks in advance for your continued support! 


Click here: Renew Your 2024 Membership

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Annual Membership Meeting

Thursday, December 7, 2023 at 11:00 AM


Please join us for our annual meeting on Thursday, December 7, 2023 at the Gathering Place. The meeting will start at 11:00 AM. Lunch will be served afterwards.


The Gathering Place is located at 2304 Periwinkle Way. Please enter at the rear of the prperty off Dunlap.


RSVP. The meeting and lunch are free, but please let us know you’re attending by clicking this link: Click Here or visiting our website tab “RSVP to Annual Membership Meeting”. Alternatively, you can email us at [email protected] or call us at (239) 413-7324 and leave a message. We want to make sure to have plenty of lunch for everyone. 



Hope to see you there.



Activity Spotlight--Don’t Miss These November Activities!

We have lots of fun activities going on at the Gathering Place during November from exercise on Tuesdays and Thursdays to bridge and Mahjong on Thursdays, but don’t forget our other fun events happening elsewhere on the island or via Zoom—


  • Thanksgiving Leisure Lunch. Come enjoy a leisurely Thanksgiving themed lunch with friends at Lighthouse Waterfront Restaurant on Monday, November 13 at noon. The restaurant is located at 14301 Port Comfort Rd, Fort Myers, FL 33908. To reserve your spot, email Deborah Butler at [email protected]. Hurry, spaces are limited!


  • Happy Hour at MudBugs. Don’t miss our weekly happy hour get togethers at MudBugs. We’re there every Monday starting at 4 PM. Look for the folks having fun by the downstairs bar. If you get lost or we’re not by the downstairs bar as planned, call our night’s host, Robin Christian, at (817) 975-7166.



  • Page Turners Book Club. Join us at 1:00 PM on Tuesday, November 14 for a discussion of Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. You’re going to love the main character—an octopus! SO cool, so Sanibel. There are two options for joining in, via Zoom or in person at the Gathering Place. Contact us at [email protected] to get the Zoom link.
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Come Play Bridge!


Join us on Thursdays from 12:30-2:30 for organized bridge play.

Chicago scoring is used, and pairs rotate tables every 4 or 6 hands, depending on the number of tables that day. If you’re interested in playing or want more information, please contact Bryant Korn at [email protected]

Kindness Matters


Over the past decades our organization has reached out to its members, close friends, and family to acknowledge those who are facing the challenges of loss, illness, and other difficult circumstances, in an effort to extend messages of support. If you know of any members or their loved ones whose lives are affected by difficult circumstances, we would like to know. Please email [email protected] with the name of the person or family, along with their contact information and a general description of the type of challenge impacting their daily lives. Or please contact Ann Moeder directly at [email protected].



As many of us are aware, the holiday season can be an especially lonely and difficult time for many of us. Please do not hesitate to let us know about anyone who could use a little extra support at this time. 

The Curiosity Corner


Dominos


Any readers in business school should take note of this perfect example of a company understanding their customer base: Domino’s has a new free pizza program for personal emergencies.


What kind of emergencies? Domino’s isn’t referring to unintended hospital visits. Instead, try to imagine the last thing that made you decide to order pizza when you hadn’t planned on doing so an hour before!


Let’s listen to what Kate Trumbull, senior vice president and chief brand officer has to say.


“Perhaps you burned dinner, the power went out, or maybe your in-laws just dropped in without notice—whatever your emergency situation, Domino’s believes a free pizza can make anything better,” she Trumbull in a press release.


“Why did we launch Domino’s Emergency Pizza? With so much uncertainty in everyday life, we believe everyone needs a pizza pick-me-up at some point.”

The way it works is that customers enroll in the Domino’s loyalty program and then spend $7.99 on a pizza. At this point, you will earn an emergency pizza credit.



At the moment the Emergency Pizza Program is slated to run until February 11th

After a twenty-teens reputation for skeezy food, Domino’s launched a brand revolution that has since catapulted it to the top of the food chain in American pizza brands.


They recently launched a new delivery program that allows people to get deliveries essentially anywhere within range of a store. 

CALENDAR

Click the calendar below to see activities happening in October.

Of Mice and Men



In June, GNN reported on the first evidence of a drug that was able to regrow adult teeth in mice, after it was discovered by a dental scientist named Takahashi in Japan years ago.



Now, a pharmaceutical firm called Toregem Biopharma, funded by Kyoto University where Takahashi is based, is moving forward with clinical trials in healthy human adults.


Slated to begin in July of next year, the trials will investigate whether or not Takahashi’s antibody-based drug that targets a protein which suppresses the growth of new teeth from our “teeth buds,” is successful in adults.

If so, the next trial will include children with anodontia, a condition where they are born without some of their teeth.


In 2018, Takahashi showed that ferrets, who like humans have tooth buds, baby teeth, and permanent teeth, were able to regrow their teeth when given the drug.

“The idea of growing new teeth is every dentist’s dream. I’ve been working on this since I was a graduate student. I was confident I’d be able to make it happen,” Mr. Takahashi said. Anodontia is a congenital condition present in about 1% of the population that impedes the development of teeth. About 10% of those patients have oligodontia, in which they lack 6 or more natural teeth.



Around 2005, and upon Takahashi’s return to Japan, literature began being published that pinpointed certain genes in mice that when deleted caused them to grow fewer or more teeth.


Investigating the latter, Takahashi found that this gene synthesized its own protein called USAG-1, and that when he targeted it with a neutralizing antibody, the mouse’s teeth proceeded to grow like normal.

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