The big event this month is the Member Showcase and First Birthday Celebration on Sunday, April 14 from 2-4 PM at the Woman's Club, 1616 Old Pecos Trail. We will be highlighting our members and celebrating our one year anniversary as part of the National TTN organization. We'll also have a musical jam session so bring your voice, an instrument or listen while you view the member tables, meet others and enjoy a piece of cake. The event is free and open to the public so please come and invite your friends and family to join us too.
Peer Groups: Watch for an announcement this spring about a new opportunity for members to be a part of a Meet-up-TTN group where it will be an easy for any member to put in an announcement to find others who might want to participate in an activity. More details to come. Thanks to Maria Francis and Ann Church for initiating this idea.
The Transition Peer Group Advisory Council sent an email invitation to any woman who is currently, or has been, in a Transition Peer Group (TPG) to gain ideas and valuable feedback. This special session will be in early April and will help shape the direction for future Transition Peer Groups. Members of the TPG Advisory Council are Beth Johnson, TPG Coordinator, Maria Francis, Peer Group Coordinator, Glynn Anderson, Mary Haile, Elaine Meizlish and Jean Palmer, TTN Coordinator.
Membership: In April 2012, we had 34 members a year ago and we currently have 130 members today! We appreciate all who have joined and welcome your attendance at any of our events. Many memberships are coming up for renewal in March, April and May so be sure to renew so you don't miss out on some exciting new things that we are planning for this next year. To renew, go to www.thetransitionnetwork.org, type renew membership in the Search box at the top and follow the instructions.
Programs: The April program will be on Transitions and those attending will get an opportunity to get to know each other more through finding common themes that are pertinent to women 50+ and sharing in small groups. The monthly programs are open to all and are fragrance free. To find out more about this month's program, see below.
In addition to the monthly programs, we want to offer some workshops on topics such as End of Life issues, Finances, Transitions, Grief and Dealing with Death. In order to do that, we need a volunteer to head up the workshop committee and 3-4 women who would be willing to help plan and work out the details for these. If interested, please contact Pat Shapiro, Program chair, shapiropat@gmail.com.
National: The Coordinators of all the TTN chapters across the country will be meeting in New York on April 19-21 for a TTN Leadership Retreat. Jean Palmer is on the planning team for the retreat and will be attending as will Maria Francis, Peer Group Coordinator.
National offers a program called the Caring Collaborative which is something we are exploring for the Santa Fe chapter. The Caring Collaborative is a program of friendly and neighborly assistance, offered by members, to preserve and promote healthy independence. Anyone interested in helping with this possible new initiative should contact Jean@JeanPalmer.com.
Gratitude: Thanks to Patty Armstrong, Communications Chair, who does many of the behind the scenes activities that make us look so good. Patty designs our flyers, created our local logo and pins, puts together the newsletter each month, maintains and updates the website and designed a banner which you'll see at the Member Showcase. Patty deserves a great deal of credit for the professional look of all of our materials and for her creativity.
On the Member Showcase and Birthday Celebration, a special thanks to all of the members who purchased tables for the Member Showcase and to any sponsors. Thanks to Steering Committee members, Jeanne Roos, Jutta vonGontard and Sheila Doran-Benyon for the set-up and logistics and to Ann Church for designing the booklet.
Jean Palmer, Coordinator
TTN-Santa Fe