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Niagara College Retirees’ Association – Fall 2012 Newsletter Website: retirees.niagaracollege.ca Email: [email protected]
Christmas Luncheon Celebration You are cordially invited to attend our annual Christmas Celebration at the Mandarin Restaurant, 366 Bunting Road in St. Catharines. This is our largest get together of the year, with plenty of opportunity to meet old friends and colleagues, win door prizes, and enjoy festive entertainment. We would like once again to reach out to College students by holding a food drive for the much-‐needed Student Council’s food bank. Every year after Christmas, a surprising number of students rely on the food bank to keep them going in the winter semester. Retirees are asked to bring to the Christmas luncheon one or more items of non-‐perishable goods. These items can include comfort foods such as beans, soups, Kraft Dinner, tea, cookies, crackers and jam. Baby food and formula, as well as personal hygiene items such as shampoo, toothpaste and soap are also greatly appreciated. Last year, College retirees contributed over 170 lbs. of food. Let’s make a difference in the lives of our students as we celebrate the advent of the Holiday Season.
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Welcome to an exciting new year for the Niagara College Retirees’ Association (the NCRA). As you will see when reading through our newsletter, there are a host of new activities underway and we hope you can participate in at least some of them. Our new Association Executive have been busy all fall putting together a calendar of interesting events for you, our members.
From the President
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Already this year we have walked along the Niagara Parkway, were given an insight into the lives of soldiers and their families at Fort George 200 years ago, learned how to edit and share digital photos and participated in an introducation to Tai-‐Chi. And it’s only November! If you have ideas or suggestions on how to make our Association more relevant to you, please don’t hesitate to contact me or another member of the
Executive.
Keeping in Touch Newsletter of the Niagara College Retirees’ Association
Fall 2012 Issue
Your Association Executive
President: John Clark [email protected] (905) 892-‐8238
Vice-‐President: Sandra Watson [email protected] (905) 988-‐9378
Secretary: Lorraine Gelinas [email protected] (905) 892-‐9774
Treasurer: Jacquie Deforest [email protected] (905) 685-‐4390
Social Convener: Carolyn Gould [email protected] (289) 567-‐0203
Membership: Roy Blake [email protected] (905) 732-‐2097
Director at Large: Peter Thompstone [email protected] (905) 685-‐0905
Past President: Eleanor Snider [email protected] (905) 892-‐5166
~ John Clark
~ Helene Moscato
p.s. If you wish, you are encouraged to bring a small gift for our gift draws at the Christmas Celebration.
Niagara College Retirees’ Association – Fall 2012 Newsletter Website: retirees.niagaracollege.ca Email: [email protected]
2012-‐2013 Schedule of Activities: We have planned what we hope are activities and events of interest to many of you. Please send us your thoughts and suggestions about additional activities you would like to see.
Dec. 5: noon Christmas Celebration at the Mandarin Restaurant, 366 Bunting Road in St. Catharines. Bring nonperishable articles of food for the college’s student food bank.
Dec 11: 2:30-‐5:30 pm Floral Workshop – create your own Holiday Centrepiece under the guidance of our own expert, Peter Thompstone
Jan. 9: 12-‐1:30 pm Lunch with speaker Marilyn Bellows from the Niagara Health Services, talking about the new hospital.
January Tour of the new Niagara Hospital – details to come
Feb. 6: noon Lunch at the Mandarin Restaurant, 366 Bunting Road in St. Catharines
February College Break Week
“Cook Your Way to Health” presentation by one of the Niagara College chefs. Date and details are in the works.
March 6: 12-‐1:30 pm Lunch with speaker Don Ursino. His topic is “Muscles: Use ‘em or lose ‘em”. Details to be announced
April 3: -‐ noon Lunch at the Mandarin Restaurant, 366 Bunting Road in St. Catharines
April 13: 10:00 am If there is sufficient interest, we will plan a pancake breakfast at one of our local sugar bushes to celebrate the advent of Spring.
May 1: 12-‐1:30 pm Lunch and Presentation: “Accessing Local Resources and Support As We Age”
May Photography Seminar II by John Clark: “Tips on Taking Pictures with Your Digital Camera”. Location and exact date to be determined.
June 5: 12-‐2:00 pm End of year luncheon and Annual General Meeting, with musical entertainment by McPherson’s Rant.
Shaw Festival A range of theatrical productions during the summer and fall, arranged by Peter Rylander. Details to follow. Contact Peter at 905-‐357-‐2399.
You can also find out about these events by going to our website at retirees.niagaracollege.ca. Non-‐members and guests of members are welcome to attend all events, however, depending on the event, an extra charge may apply.
Cards Anyone? At our visualization session last year, a great deal of interest was expressed in organizing local card groups. I would be happy to set up the groups and get them started; if you are interested in participating, please email or call me with your responses to the following:
2. How frequently would you like to play? e.g. Weekly, Biweekly, Monthly
1. What are your card games of choice? e.g. Euchre, Bridge, other game.
3. What is the closest city to you? 4. Would you be willing to drive someone in your area?
5. Would you need a ride?
Please let me know if you have ideas for similar types of activities.
My email address is [email protected] and my phone # is (289) 567-‐0203
Looking forward to hearing from you! ~ Carolyn Gould, NCRA Social Convener
Niagara College Retirees’ Association – Fall 2012 Newsletter Website: retirees.niagaracollege.ca Email: [email protected]
In Memoriam Our condolences go out to the families and friends of the following Niagara College retirees who have passed away this year:
Ken Anderson
Audrey Berry
Gary Guzda
Jane Murphy
Joyce Noren
Phil Scoones
Janet Truckenbrodt
Laureen Ventnor
Stethoscope on Your Health Did you know....
As we age, our stomach acid naturally decreases. We need acid as well as enzymes to break down and digest food easily. Lowered HCL (stomach acid) can lead to chronic nutritional deficiencies in the body's ability to
absorb amino acids, vitamins and minerals. Enzymes are destroyed in cooking and processing of food. Here are some suggestions: • Take digestive enzymes before eating • Add probiotics to your daily diet • Take a daily complete mineral/vitamin supplement (not the hard gel encapsulated type)
• Choose organic fruits and vegetables whenever possible • Don't overcook your food – doing so makes it harder to digest
Before making any changes to your diet, contact a trusted health care professional for help.
~ Carolyn Gould
Ontario College Retirees’ Association Annual General Meeting A few of us journeyed up to Seneca College on October 25 to attend the OCRA AGM and found the trip more than worthwhile. Here are a few items of interest from the meeting: • three of our fellow college retirees, Gary LaRose, Jennie Balasak, and John Kilip are OCRA founding members and helped shape this organization. Kudos to them!
• after intense lobbying , our CAAT pension plan has been exempted from the pension plan pooling initiative the Ontario government is putting in place
• OCRA continues to raise the concern that there is no formal retiree representation on the pension board of trustees – where the real policy power lies.
• Sun Life plans to offer travel insurance shortly for college retirees • To receive CAAT pension plan updates, go to our retiree website (retirees.niagaracollege.ca), click the CAAT pension plan link on right side of screen, then click the “News Link” image
• Ellen Roseman, consumer and personal finance columnist for the Toronto Star, spoke to our group on “the Economics of Retiring” that included many worthwhile financial tips of interest to retirees like us. Ellen recommended the following resources: o Ellen’s own website -‐ www.ellenroseman.com o Mark Goodfields’s The Blunt Bean Counter website -‐ thebluntbeancounter.com o Gordon Pape’s book – Harsh New Realities o Moshe Milevsky views on life annuities -‐ milevsky.info.yorku.ca/popular-‐articles o Daryl Diamond’s book The Retirement Income Blueprint -‐ www.boomersblueprint.com o Ellen encouraged retirees to send her questions. Her email address is -‐ [email protected]
OCRA is an organization fighting for Ontario CAAT retirees and is deserving of your support. To learn more about OCRA and how to join, please visit their website at: ocraetirees.ca.
Niagara College Retirees’ Association – Fall 2012 Newsletter Website: retirees.niagaracollege.ca Email: [email protected]
Why Join the Retirees’ Association? As of November, we have 92 paid-‐up members. Most of the membership fee of $15 per year is given back in the form of student bursaries and other donations to the college. We are also looking into other ways of giving back to the college and students; if you have ideas, please contact us. If you haven’t already joined, please consider doing so before the end of the year. You can join at any NCRA event, including our monthly luncheons, and Christmas Celebration, or use the attached membership form and mail it in to the address on the form. The mainstay of any organization is regular communications and the most effective way we have of staying connected with you is through email. If you’d like to be on our email list, just send an email to [email protected] and we’ll add you to the list. We don’t share the list with anyone, but we do use it to send you news about fellow retirees and keep you informed about upcoming NCRA events throughout the year. Be sure to check out our website for news and information on NCRA activities and please let us know what you would like to see on the website that isn’t already there.
Membership Application/Renewal To join or renew your Association membership for 2012-‐13, please complete this form and send it along with a $15.00 cheque (made out to the Niagara College Retirees' Assoc.) to the address below.
Name: __________________________________________________________
Street Address: ___________________________________________________
City/Town: ______________________________________________ Postal Code: ________________________
Email Address: __________________________________________ Telephone: _________________________
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Contact Information: Roy Blake Membership Director Niagara College Retirees' Association 42 Macoomb Drive, Welland, ON L3C 5T9 Tel: 905 732 2097
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Email: [email protected] Website: retirees.niagaracollege.ca
Our thanks to Lyn Russo and her team in Niagara College’s Development & Alumni Relations department for their generous support with this newsletter.
