The membership of Women On Our Own (WOOO) met on Saturday, April 25 at the HOA-1 Activity Center for our semi-annual meeting. The salad luncheon was attended by over 40 WOOO women, each bringing an appetizer, salad or dessert, and each being very delicious, making it difficult not to try each dish.
The meeting was called to order by President, Debbie Flato, who presented her Board members, Vice-President Patti Nuce, Secretary Gloria Peterson, Treasurer Gail Taylor and Communications Jan Maresca. Activity coordinators were asked to stand and a summary of the past six months since our October meeting was given by Debbie.
Debbie asked for an update by WOOO member Donna Marie Thompson who has spearheaded the initiation of the AARP Literacy Program in the Oracle School District at Mountain Vista K-8. Donna had placed a call out to WOOO members as well as the SaddleBrooke, Eagle Crest and Oracle residents to volunteer to tutor selected MV second graders two afternoons per week to increase fluency, comprehension, phonetic skills and eagerness to read. Of the eight volunteers, five are WOOO members. The program was a wonderful success, and Donna is hoping to expand the program to include more students and also to provide tutoring to third and fourth grade students in math.
Member Edie Crall was asked to present her idea of a new activity to add to our many opportunities in WOOO to stay active and engaged. Her new curiosity about Asian cooking prompted her to reach out to our membership to see if others might be interested. Those present were enthusiastic about such an idea and added that it could morph into exploring other international cooking experiences as well. Edie took the encouragement of WOOO that says, “If you don’t see an activity you are interested in, reach out! There will probably be ladies who share your curiosity or interest.”
A discussion took place regarding the change of the semi-annual membership meetings from evenings to afternoons. The reason for such a change pointed to the poor lighting at the Activity Center when meetings, especially the late October meeting, usually adjourned when darkness prevailed. The lighting issue is not only an issue in the handicapped parking lot, but on the pathway leading to the upper parking lot. It was suggested and agreed to by the membership present to hold the April spring meeting in the evening, since daylight was present until after 7 p.m. The October meeting will be held as a luncheon, at 12 p.m. Compromise is a wonderful human character trait.
