##VIDEO ID:Va3WmDaT1vw## how many this year uh so far this year last year the whole year see I keep a journal [Music] really it's really interesting back when did [Music] iour welcome everyone to our housing monthly meeting it is now 2:05 and everybody get a chance to go over the minutes [Music] [Music] a motion on the okay second second second by Barbara okay all in favor okay I'll any [Music] just a reminder if um if you're making a motion or you're having discussion to turn your mics on and use your mic please that's time [Music] [Music] now your agenda says financial report a Treasures report for June and August that's that is wrong those were all done and approved but you know sometimes haste makes waste it is the September 30 2024 by a treasury report which we are now discussing the other reports were all fixed and approved and up to date and so we are up so we are up to date okay page one of four is your general fund and there's no biggies but please look it over and if you have any questions now is the time that is at the top of the general fund and salaries repairs information energy office supplies and encumbered repairs we have any questions on any of those items I know Mike can answer no no we will be happy entertain a question if you have any just um to make some particular points if you notice across the board our percentages are about 23% on all of the items with the exception of overtime we're already at about 50% we a quarter of the way through the year we're at about 50% of our budget for overtime we'll probably move some of the money from On Call standby into OT and the reason for that folks is because we doing more nighttime programs we do two programs a week now after kind of what was has been our traditional hours and our staff is covering that uh globally rather than just having one person do it on the on the flip side we have a number of items that are well below the 25% we have repairs energy and utilities and offer supplies on all of those we expect those to be backloaded which is typically what happens so repairs at beginning of the year we put our list of items that have to be fixed and repaired together then we start the process of getting bids or quotes hiring the contractors and getting the work one great example on repairs just you know that we don't have any floor finishing equipment here at the senior center we've either borrowed it or uh hired contractors last time we had a contractor come in and do it it was several thousand to do our doors I mean our floors so our plan now is to do that inhouse and purchasing um to do that we'll purchase a buffer stripper machine which will probably be a couple, not a bad investment as we'll bring that down a waterer as well so it's not it's not something that we're just going to be putting money in here and then losing it at the back end um so those are what those and office supplies as well if we are able to distribute the costs associated with office supplies among various funds the bottom line the totals were right where we're supposed to be 23% by the way we have 100% of our uniform allowance that's always paid out in the first week in August so the first week of the fiscal year that is paid out entirely 100% but otherwise we're joining on the spot at 23% quarter of the way through the year did you have that switch on uh what's an incumbent repair versus a repair incum repairs were repairs that happened prior to the beginning of the fisc year so they happened in last fiscal year we incurred the expense but didn't pay the invoice so that money is captured because if we don't capture that money It All Rolls back into the general fund and that that bill would be paid in 2024 for a I mean a 2025 for a 2024 repair it's really important to do that because it it more adequately reflects the cost in any particular year if we had put it into this year it would have been so that's that 6400 was entirely 100% the air purification uh filters filtration and installation and we do that every year at the end of June that's just the timing well that then become a Comey repair in the next year it it probably will yeah that's probably what's going to happen in unless we scheduled it a little bit earlier um and captur off we're pay do is matching so that's fine that's it y y okay any other question if not we will move on to the gift fund and uh there was a gift of $150 which uh has been put into the fund so at the moment we have and and we have paid um we have paid for the electrical the equipment for the sound sound system and all 1,500 but we still have 80,000 83645 in the gift fund and of course 25,000 uh talking about encumbrances 25,000 is encumbrance for painting but that's good up to 25,000 was pledged as a Max Y and any any question on the gift any question at all any question at all on the gift fund no okay then um the next page is your um revolving fund and uh not too many changes in that this month under the September 24 column which is the third column over you can see the few expenses that were paid out this month some for the driver's head some for food at hanners and then some gift cards and so the total expenses out of revolving fund were only $ 7479 this month which was good and we took in 39364 that would be um oh no we did I'm sorry that's year to date sorry I was in the wrong column we took in 1, 44641 right and so any questions on the revolving fund very simple this month not not too many not too many changes Paul you have a question and just from a historical perspective that $111,000 uh year-to date expenses the two big ones were the catering for the Summer Outing and the installation dinner and the uh wox game that was in 2000 from those two we got a ton of uh we got a grant so those are all you'll see a reduction in the overall cost for those trips because the Grant's going to reimburse us now for those it shows the 1446 has a negative income that negative income was because what we did um as a result of the grant we're able to refund people's money money so anybody who paid $25 $26 for the usach skin we gave that money back and that's it's really it's not an expense it's a reduction in income so we we had reflected the income in previous months we now have to show the reduction in income if that makes sense I hope it does did you have a question read your mind okay any any other question okay and did you just want to know what the final balance in the final balance excuse me the final balance in our revolving fund is 37,58736 [Music] 58785 so any uh groups or things that need something there you know should ask you know uh our director melis and with reason we ready to buy you so we show those incumbrances by the way so that we can maintain a good idea of where our balance is on that account so while our cash balance is 37587 we have $33,000 for example Contracting with hords for our Thanksgiving and Christmas food buy buy 200 turkeys this year a have you got a good price on them yet or you they didn't haven't been able to tell you yet so so our V our our businesses are very supportive um I'm always so unbelievably overwhelmed by the generosity in the community and what this particular meat vendor does for us since they hold off until the prices come down then they put the order in at the lowest price so last year we were buy our entire um mine of turkeys for 49 cents a pound we bought 150 turkeys last year so that that's what that 3,000 is head headed for okay no other questions we'll move on to the grant the FY 23 State Grant is gone closed out was there a [Music] question 24 State Grant is U open and very active and you can again see the third column over September 24 the items that were paid out of the Grant in September uh some of this for the Outreach coordinator and um food events and then for the instructors for the the uh Fitness and uh painting and maintenance of the oper elevator and then we had to pay Mass counsel dues and uh no we didn't I'm sorry I keep I'm sorry I keep moving to the wrong column just please look down the September 24 column if you see any item that you would like to ask a question about now please ask and we will try to answer September 24 col of expenses and just a just a again a quick note about 75% of the expenses incurred in September from the state grant were either salaries or instructor cost vendor vendor payment so um I think that's a a pretty telling sign that we're putting most of our money directly into the the facilitation programs but for the most part all of the additional um expenses supported those so they were supplies for crafts they were supplies for our yoga we bought new weights um those kinds of things so we're doing exactly what we should be doing from the revolving fund which is putting the vast majority of that money back into programs any the state Frank okay and the balance on the FY 24 State Grant as of September 30 is 52,000 70789 no further question we can move on to syy 25 which we haven't started to use yet and in that we have a balance as of September 30 of 83,5 6588 3,565 and we haven't started us and now the FY 25 State Technology Grant um there were no expenses in September and I will let Mike speak to that Grant because he knows more about it than I do um so as you know we are implementing a technology initiative between the gardener Senior Center and the templon senior center most of the cost associated with this grant are for hardware and Technology purposes we have about 20 Chromebooks for example we purchased we putting online now just trying to work through the Google administrator program to get those uh Chromebooks secured we've already done some technology classes we had 14 Unique Individuals participate in the technology classes which is really cool especially since we didn't really do a full court press on rolling it out you want to see what it would look like we are desperately in need of a technology instructor we Lu out having the instructor this summer because they were on the from school they are now back to their full-time teaching gate and can't live off the high horse anymore um so uh we're desperately looking for Tony can do that work for us but so far um we're right on task we have also just started to do some other neat things including uh purchasing some audio support stuff which is is supplements and supports the technology side right we have to be able to broadcast what we're doing so interfaces between our Chromebook and zoom um which includes audio links and video links to cameras so we can actually capture uh those programs and then re broadcast them at some later point in time but that takes some technology and it's been kind of cool going through the process there isn't a turn Key System out there there isn't a cheap Turn Key System out there so we're kind of developing this on our own with the expertise from Community College media Department WG uh and the so so appreciative the work and the balance in that Grant as of September 30 is $ [Music] 68,5 4216 and if there are other any questions on that [Music] Grant on the interns um what is the proposal where are you going to be getting insurance from loal college with the credit or both um both the college and we're looking for some high school interns so the high school interns will do maybe some low some lower uh Tech assistance for our Sen while the high school folk I mean the college folks were looking to do a more advanced technology program and give them an opportunity to do some instruction so I figure that's going to look more like a you know a true internship or work placement rather than um a job opportunity but they all get siphons they're not a lot it's not big money that it's going to get rich on it but it gives them some money some pocket money while fulfilling your academic requirements and it also varies school to school some um extern or intern um externships if they been credit bar maybe part of their studies their curriculum um they may not allow them to be paid so you have to kind of go from school to school some schools will allow in so VAR soon and we Lu out here in the gardener area for our internships um I would love to do externship and an externship folks generally includes a teacher so somebody who's already credential to come back and help develop the program and ex turns we would absolutely want to S but that's becoming much more difficult as well as teachers are already you know overworked um not just from a work perspective that they're being paid for but the work they have to do to prep for the classroom and grade papers a lot of folks don't have that free available time to come and do it to our class you know somebody we'd love to bring them on Bally somebody who's retired and has some um you know I think better experience or frame of reference to the senior community as a volunteer or either we would know we would pay we pay typing yeah we have't in the budget to pay typ in and and our proposal was to make this sustainable so if we can get a good response and there's a need we'll continue this well beyond the grant funding term right now we have the money through the grant to pay some small dollar that so you look at something that would oversee that operation actually performing yeah somebody would be in the classroom teaching uh seniors how to use Chromebooks how to navigate that stuff I I have a lot of I mean I had a lot of fun doing that so I found that to be one of the most fun jobs I have was at the chamber just time okay any other any other question now the time to ask if not we I submit the September financials for your consideration okay do I have a motion on the F report I any discussion on it okay all in favor any oppos all right go voted very well our next thing on our list is going to be the old business update new business prior to the meeting September I have no updates today friendly designation of the Waterford Street facility and ask to be table for next month uh under new business director's report boy a lot a lot to talk about in um in a different way so first of all I want want to thank those of you who were able to attend and if not attend support the recent visit by the assistant Secretary of the executive office of Elder Affairs that was a big deal and uh it was the first major disappointment I've had since I've been here at the senior center not being able to attend that but you folks did a great job representing us there was a uh remarkable showing from the board as well as the community several City councilors the State Rep were all here um to engage the assistant secretary and I heard it was a wonderful Round Table discussion is there anything people here want to add what was your perspective or perception or what you thought I found that she was very impressive place we can get a chck from here around the floor we were downstairs and she said that she's looking forward to comeing back in the spring see the area hopefully will be in the new place she got a chance to see the new place at the same time we couldn't go to water was still in the construction locked up and stuff so we got there it it was the Perfect Storm as both the mayor and I weren't here and we were the ones that were going to to drive that um tour so it was a little bit of a disappointment but not really because it gives us another opportunity to have the assistant secretary or secretary here when we do the inevitable ribbon cutting so I'm pretty excited about that so on behalf of our staff and certainly those that are here for those of you who are able to come and be part of that thank you I'm going to continue on with some of the other uh import let to know as we enter this last at the first quarter of this year we have some significant pressures coming to be on our staff um because they have to take time so it's our busiest three months uh typically uh four months October November December and January are just terribly busy but now it gets worse because we have to um make sure those folks use their time or lose it and they deserve the time they're working hard it's going to create some strains on coverage for our office uh but on the flip side we've been really lucky at being able to attract new volunteers we have some younger folks who are able to assist with some of the facility stuff very happy and appreciative of them offering their services so um I'm hoping that we'll get through one stath I believe we will because of the dedication of the volunteers and staff but I want to make sure that you knew we may not be answering the phones quite as fast as we were as people taking time on and it's it's substantial it's probably 50 to 60 hours for each of the staff they have to use or lose by the end of the year and you do the math 180 hours that's five weeks of Staff time loves on here we have some new staff vendors that are in the the senior we have Paula Paul is teaching one of our yoga classes as Stephanie has backed off a little bit you got a great contract at RCA um to do yoga at the recovery center uh and rightly so welld deserved on her part she's a you know a great instructor and certainly understands the dynamic of PTSD and those things and how yoga helps so we congratulate her while we Lament The Loss um we're able to bring Paula in and Paula is an exceptional so far we've been very lucky with our instructor so um and she seems to have that same kind of attitude and approach to things here on super site for 4 years we've been working on this and have had no luck but recently we're able to uh to catch a Tai CH struct so uh we had originally proposed starting that on a very small slow basis the beginning of November but with all the holidays that're happening in November uh it didn't make sense to run two Tai Chi classes in November so we're going to hold off to the 1 of December and introduce that in full force we're already starting to Market and get the word out that Tai is at the Garden Senor Center in December 1st our meditation with music program with Nina and mik Becky has been a roughly quarterly program we are now rolling that into a yearlong 12mon once a month um Initiative for our seniors here it's been very well received it's a it's remarkably you know good and therapeutic and I love working with Nina and Mike they just exceptional people so it's nice that they were able to and willing to to make this a year one program some of our infrastructure improvements we talked about repairs and some of the things we have to do for very shortterm perspective we have to do before the snow flies I hope is finish the uh scraping and painting of our ramps and stairs this uh out this exit here that comes out of the uh Auditorium needs to just have a quick uh refresh but more importantly there are a couple areas that are probably going to need to be fixed repaired welded and we got minority people to do that kind of quickly including the railing um it's not dangerous but I'd rather get it now and correct the little bit of corrosion we have before it becomes a super problem like the other exit has been opposite of that one that exits onto the parking lot we have one that exits into the backyard the stair treads on those are precariously rusted um and so we' closed that exit off we still meet code we have two means of E on opposite ends of the building we fine in that regard I would feel better if that were taken care of and we've been putting it off a little bit not sure sure when we were going to move um but I think we're we're going to try to get the welder from the city DPW to come down and see if he can do some of those repairs it's not it's not super expensive hard work but it is work that needs to be done to make those St safe um we have a little bit of work to do on the roof up upstairs again before the snow flies burman's been up and patched it um we're going to give it a final patch and hopefully be able to avoid some of the leaks we've had as the uh snows melts it it raises the roof a little and then the water catches and Le so as long as we have it pitched down into the the roof drain we're in good shape um and then of course I talked about the floors we'd like to get these floors finished you know through the winter if we don't then the wear and tear during the winter months will be much more uous on them and they'll really look bad be much more difficult to repair or fix in the spring when we're trying to say sell or reuse the building um we're also doing some upgrades on some of our security infrastructure we have a couple cameras that are down on our security system they are not able to reset um we're relatively sure of gone so we've just made some small dollar purchases from the camera equipment also round up our full uh capacity on this system we can go to 18 cameras we've only been using 15 um and now we going down 14 so we'll be able to add those cameras and get a little bit more coverage on the building um we have some expected increases in our meal costs uh here but not huge so um we figure it's going to be another ,000 $2,000 in meal cost but we've seen utilization up dramatically we come from from anywhere from 1 to three at any given meal to 15 16 people on some of our bigger woms but we're still pushing that and the idea of the meals isn't only for folks that need some assistance in nutritional support but it also addresses the issue of isolation and loneliness right it connects us to other people gives us an opportunity to socialize and food is a great way to bring together so in your travels and folks that are listening please help us get the word out that we do comp me here on Monday Tuesdays and Thursdays every week homecooked prepared in our kitchen they're not pre prepped meals we're not buying them um from a vendor bring them in and just keep them up you can smell the odiferous flavorful um Creations by Amy our Master Chef some some programs coming up some cool programs this Friday we going to Cathedral of the P I think we have 16 vets that are joining us on that trip on November 6th we have a special Veterans Day program we're doing it in advance of Veterans Day our Veterans Day program is a little different than others as we individually recognize every veteran that's in attendance and branches in which they serve we try to do a little bit of um musical or theatrical performances so we might read a poem or things like that and we have um a retired Colonel coming in as our speaker from um uh from the area so that's kind of interesting and neat we're stting a ukulele group so um that's going to be kind of exciting see how that goes been wanting to drive your hand at playing new again uh because of the infinus and support of Nina and her crewp um we're hoping to get that going at the beginning of the year we're trying to get a drum circle going um drum circles are very therapeutic and uh not only from a physical perspective and giving folks a little bit more motor skills in their hands and arms it's also therapeutic from a mental health Protec so uh we're working hard on getting that our biggest challenge right now in the drum circle is where the heck do we store the drums um we have already have the we're putting Yoda balls on a on a 28 gallon tub that amplifies the sound but you can just imagine how much room a large 36 in 40 in yall H we just don't know where to put them right now so that's the only reason why the has we have a chain mail presentation class coming up somebody offered to come in and work with our vets on that particular presentation so I'm going to show how to make uh you know the headdresses and chest pieces that the KN used to wear just in case somebody wants to jous in downtown Garden I understand might be a big problem um last month we were super EXC excited to announce the start and first uh program of our memory Cafe dedicated to those of Dementia or caregivers of those with dementia here at the Garden Center led by Al and Sh certified dementia coach uh on October 21st and November 18th we have concerts the corio Dennis corio on October 21st and Kelly School of Music on November 18 our ha to home presentation on October 25th and then come the holiday program um we have a Halloween party scheduled for October 30th our Halloween dance on October 28th at night that's a uh 6 to 7:30ish with food our decorated pumpkin contest last year we had 12 entries imagine we'll get at least that this year but it doesn't have to be just painted or carved it can be any craft creation you want on a pumpkin our Thanksgiving meals will be held on than Thanksgiving Day at the Els um we last year we did about 240 drive-throughs 120 folks 8 in the dining room we served our volunteers and provided care packages for police fire and EMS about 350 meals last year we are well on target to do that again uh we cook 25 25 lb turkeys for Thanksgiving and 25 25 PB turkeys for Christmas and that meat was gone we'll up our um turkey count this year again um just to make sure I think that people getting meal they should feel satisfied that it's and it will be for those two programs Thanksgiving well let's talk about Thanksgiving that day if you're able and free and willing to come and give a couple hours we had a cadr a wonderful group of volunteers last year and it seemed like you had too much until we really needed to volunteer so you know there was a lot of standing around but then all of a sudden there was a rush at work outside alone we have two stations we bring two cars up remember we did 230 240 vehicles um so we had people work in traffic and having one person in the road is dangerous we want to have four people on the road just so that you know people are paying attention um we're stop cars as our Runners are going out aren getting you know hit pumped CAU in between it's very safe because of what the volunteers do but it's it's volunteer intens always looking for help uh similarly on Christmas we'll be doing the Christmas drivethru on the 23rd Monday the 23rd we will close the senior center offices early that day there'll be no afternoon programs on the 23rd as we do the entire drive-thru meal for Christmas we still go on Christmas Eve didn't get as many people now we do it the day before um and we get a ton of people which is great the setup outside again is going to be volunteer intensive it's going to go from the beginning of the parking lot right to the back of the parking lot with giveaways plus we have a whole crew inside preparing the meals Meals by the way food that's provided by local resources one of which is sitting at this table chrison R comments have their world renowned stuffing um that they provide for 350 people now imagine one entity having to do all this food Williams provides the squash G mail house does the salads for us um hold on I got to think about that oh um Alliance Health provides primberry sauce and rolls school the high school does have finicki uh that Fini for Dar why do I always do this um fresh piex is the vendor up there they'll be doing uh the mashed potatoes so a lot of vendors each doing the the food for 350 people to put this in persective the Thanksgiving meals we start to cook I say we I do nothing in that regard the Elks volunteers start cooking Monday afternoon so they come Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday for the Thanksgiving um meals Thursday morning kind of cool stuff our holiday party is December 9th Forno will be catering that party for us we'll have three different selections it is a ticketed event our holiday sing along is December 16th being led by the Bros musicians but we we always last year we had seven additional musicians show up with guitars banjos ukuleles tambourines rummers and SPS so that was a lot of fun about 70 people at that event our decorated snowman contest we talked about decorated pumpkin we have decorated Su again the someone be any creation that you want to make except ladies and Gentlemen please don't use real smoke we won't we won't be able to judge it it'll just really be creative water um and that won't work and then I I think a very last very important message for you all to know is this is open in Roman open Roman starts October 15th goes through December 7th it's a big deal because it's the one chance every year people get to change their Medicare plans Advantage Plans also have their own open enrollment from January to March but from o beginning of October through mid December we will serve several hundred people people in our Medicare counseling we now have counselors here Monday Tuesdays and Thursdays all through open en rolling so somebody's looking to get uh change or wants to Simply have their Medicare options reviewed give us a call and get an appointment if somebody is on Medicare if you're on Medicare sitting around the table I highly recommend you come in and look at it in 2025 Medicare is ushering in a ton of changes um in addition to Medicare changes with with changes to dut hole costs and um Max cost for your for your uh Pharmaceuticals you're going to see changes in rates from the insurance companies to make up for the loss that they perceive to be taking on the elimination of the donut hole so what's happening as a result we're seeing pretty significant increases in the premiums for the supplementing advantage point I would come in and just have a discussion doesn't mean you have to do anything and it doesn't cost the time this is all free confidential counseling they'll look at your plans they'll make recommendations at the end of the day the only one who can change it is you so consumers out there if you're watching please let us know but in addition this month we're doing a program Medicare 101 we just did in October on October 18th I'm sorry in September October 18th we have the Blue Cross plans program talking about all the different options of Blue Cross offers October 22nd we have mass advantage in early November we'll have Fallon in here doing their program so all of the big Medicare um advantage and supplement programs will have had an opportunity to be here and present and allowing you to ask any questions so just a lot going on and we haven't even started to touch on the regular programs and the um expansion of those really excited about what's going on um question and Paul all right you're going to have mass Advantage BL crost in yep right um in the news we just had Blue Cross just got added Mass advantage and B no medic the mass Advantage Program is in the newsletter it's actually it's in there they're doing October day and November day Mass advantages I y Mass Advantage is [Music] also any other questions [Music] cool yes I'm I'm going to preface this next part if there's no discussions on the direction report um if the business of the council during executive committee is complete and is passed then you do have to eventually release that information it has to become public any of the um discussions you had so the the chair is going to ask for your opinion as to whether or not that business is complete but I want to make sure that you understand if you feel like there's still something out there and want to continue the executive function and review what was reviewed last month in ex function you can do that if not the chair is probably going to ask for you you to say all right that business is concluded at which point next month the minutes from that executive session will become public any questions on that I think i' give you the a low down and explain executive executive session isn't always a perpetuity um you know secret stuff can be redacted and there are very specific criteria so once you vote to do it I'll look over them minute to see if anything needs to Beed I think it will be uh yeah okay we had done a survey we did a survey back in the middle of summer and there was five of us on the committee okay and um we got together we made a question and uation valuation form about 12 any questions on it and then comment section we were very pleased with all the comments we got from the people who we went to survey throughout the city of gu which was very nice so at the end of last month's meeting uh we compiled everything back together and discussed what was going on and I believe we pretty much like what we have but I don't know if we want to go one more meeting before we release it or whatever but uh I just want to know what people's thinking of the report I think the the um other comom is the results of that that series of evaluations was brought to the group in executive session last if I'm not mistake last [Music] month so people in favor of releasing what we have done is there anything more you want to do in that regard I have a question should the should the minutes be handed out to those that were in attendance at that meeting to see if they all agree with them no no we can't so that's a great question Kathy it's an exceptional question and one would think gez that makes sense to do that um but the answer is no because it if if we take kind of ourselves outside of executive function that would then suggest that there was a deliberation that was done that wasn't a public deliberation so everything we do has to be deliberated as group we can't have you know side meetings and sidebars and ality for votes and that's part of the public disclosure law is that everything we do is is transparent and um anything we discuss is discussed in public does that make sense so so the answer is yeah yeah yeah we can't really deliberate I you know yeah I don't I don't I don't think you can go into executive session for the purpose of reviewing the minutes to make sure they're okay I don't think you can do PA you were part of the committee you just walked up are you okay with what we've done okay because I'm just I wasn't asking about going into another executive session it's just I have the minutes from the meeting that we have so nobody else that was at that meeting I was just handing the minutes that I have done to the people that were at the meeting to see they not necessarily a whole another meeting so that so they'll do that as part of the deliberation of the minutes at the meeting so they'll we'll send it out in advance if we do the others um you'll have a chance to Prov it and then at that meeting if people feel like it doesn't adequately reflect the sentiments of the meeting then they can vote you you have the authority as a group to vote to not approve the minutes or approve the minutes as correcting if you can make the corre directions in the meeting just like our regular uh minutes if there was something that was remarkably incorrect these look good except you want to amend it in this regard you can do that as well so great question from a process perspective it gets a little gets a little weird but it's not hard do everybody approve of what that's been happen in releasing the coming out of exective session releasing that all right then discussion okay all in favor any oppos okay so voted that F any other open yeah to say something that you just brought you talk about the uh people coming in for Medicare and all that and come we brought it up okay we have sometime in the future we want to wait till we get the water have like an open up so people can come and see some of the gr that we do people probably don't know um my experience today I came in this this morning I after 11 for zupa glass and we had a couple of people that were in the meeting in the conference room and came out heard the music playing doing l dancing and R overti they saw that and they thought was of fun that we were having here and then I say late I'm looking forward to doing the Zumba class at 11 really we got to come back here so she told her husband we have to come back and check this place out so there way like an open house and not have probably check in but come in take a look and see we do wait location I I certainly would be um you know in favor of advertising an open house day and one one of the things that always brings people is food so appetize a little bit of food come and have some free pizzas on us and see what's going on that I think that would be great we do that on a regular basis and we have folks every single week we got a couple new people that come in for the first time see Center we give them the tour at the moment so what they see at the moment might be linean what they don't see is the quilting or the writers group or the book club right so um that is always a little bit of a the like how do you really paint the picture of all that goes on here but yeah doing we could even do a you know a week of stomping and get a chance to win a gift certificate which by the way those I didn't want to comment on that and I forgot in the in the finance report from ter you saw gift card purchases and that's what we use them for we buy um gift cards and increments of between $5 and $25 $5 we give out for like random drawing sometimes we give uh you know GI cards to bingo or cage or pitch as ways to incent their folks uh just as a special prize in that particular um thing but it's not gift cards that are gratuitously used by you know to gain favor with folks that we give them directly to our seniors they benefit from that so we could throw that in as a drawing a cool drawing or something like that um it be interesting to see one of the things uh Ron in group that that I'm struggling with and it's why we we started doing nighttime programs is that if you look at the age C cohort of seniors in Garden we serve people 50 years of age and older the vast majority of our seniors are well into their 60s and early 70s and you say well geez why is that well I'm I'm 51 years old I'm a little B than that I'm I'm working and I would imagine most of my peers who were in the 50s are working and early 60s are working um and they can't and into their 70s are working and they can't necessarily just cut out in the middle of their workday to come play pool or join the criet game um which is why we're trying to look at how do we open the center and make some of these opportunities here available to people who have traditional kind of Workforce demands and and we're still wrestling with that and the wrestling that we're doing is balancing being open and offering programs to the L of Staff somebody has to be here to open the phage by the way there are some senior centers in our area and this com off massachusett that will simply give a group a key and say you know make sure you lock up on the way out um I'm I'm to OCD I I probably would not I'd have a mental health break like that because I just worry too much um but we're trying to figure out a way to staff the center at night so that people have especially with our stair and stuff well one of them would that be like um hold an open house on weekend so that we can reach that segment also my next thought was um the garden just have a fall festival yes over the weekend and we didn't have a presence there we we didn't yeah I'm just looking at ways to how to get the word out how to to you know brand out ourselves and and show people who may not even consider this sen Center as an option um so you know I was thinking if we have Presence at events Civic events that we have here in the town that might be one way we do we didn't have a presence at this one but we're we've been I mean we've been out taing almost every other community event um and it was just the timing um you know for a lot of reasons but every one of those gives us a little bit of reach gives us a little bit of exposure so and I think we also have to discern and be very particular about the programs that we participate in do we have a brochure that we can that shows the services and things activities well yeah certainly we have the news probably the best the best resource out oranization like thing y we have a trifold very generic um but our newsletter is by far the most robust um literature we have yeah cuz it it talks kind of real time what we do and explains it in deep fashion love to right on the front C it is it is indeed I will make C nice so I know whenever we have uh the tops open house it always comes back to the ages of the people that're all working and they're like oh why you have it in the morning nobody can come we're all working we don't you know we don't get so many members because of the time of the day we meet and there's a flip side to that because if you were happen at 7:00 at night or 6:00 at night you're going to lose a cohort too you're going to pick some up you're going to lose some exactly doesn't necessarily mean either one is good or bad but it's a tra everybody that comes you know at this time but yeah so I I at the open houses you know all of them that I've had that was the answer to so many people they just threw the fly right down to I can't how I work you know so yeah that was the answer to anybody that's most of the people there very old because uh you know they can't they're all retired they can't come at any different time and I think at 55 you have more options for social connection and engagement that maybe you do at 75 um you know just by virtu fact that you're out and about and moving coming home from work you can stop at the mount you know once I'm in for the night it's hard to get me back out it is that's a fact yeah but yeah great perspectives and certainly that's something that we're working on La and I talking about from a visioning perspective we we go out and talk to fol and our copy and conversation we're trying to get that feedback like how do we how do we engage more people but the interesting thing is we're going to older communities we're going to to communities that have you know high 60s early 70s we're not really getting the feedback from the 50y olds or the 55 year olds they're just almost impossible for us to reach okay any other discussion something to bring up all right uh okay next thing on the list will we have next schedule meeting will be on uh November the 4th at 2 p.m. in the afternoon say that again that looking the other way November the 4th at 2:00 in the afternoon will be our next [Music] meeting that is fo day I'm not sure you're aware of that what kind ofx gu Fox try to blow up the British Parliament by putting gunpowder in the tunnels underneath Parliament and celebrated in England and children go around and ask for a penny for the old guy so that they put the penny on the eyelids to keep his eyes closed he was don't give any ideas here so we'll have our typical um our typical Feast on November 4th U that goes I'll bring the pennies okay very good okay second second [Music] okay thank everybody for coming today and all in favor oppos okay see all guys back in November have go [Music]