Volunteer of the Month
Archives

November 2019
Linda Sowell

Photo of Linda Sowell

This month we’d like to shine the light on a new, yet not new volunteer. If you read last month’s newsletter, specifically the Activity Spotlite, you would have read a bit about Linda Sowell. Well this month we’d like to shine an even larger spotlight on her as our Volunteer of the Month. Linda is the new Gadabouts Trip Coordinator. She had been working in the Thrift Store and was asked to be a relief in the Trip office. When a vacancy occurred she was asked to take over, which she was more than happy to do. Since then she has been busy scheduling new trips, chaperoning trips on occasion, and generally managing our hustling and bustling trip office. Linda also serves on our Board of Directors. If needed she also helps out at our special events. Originally from Chicago, IL, she moved out to California with her husband who was in the Navy. Once out here she was not content to stay at home raising her two kids (who themselves provided her with five grandkids), but worked in numerous types of jobs. Her main career was in Food Service. She started out at McDonalds as a cashier, and worked her way up to manager. Then she transferred to the school system where she became the Director of Children’s Nutrition for the Bear Valley School District before retiring. Thanks Linda for helping to take our members on trips of a lifetime.

Featured Class

Spanish
Date: October 3, 2019
Time: 1:30 - 2:30 pm
Length: 8 weeks
Cost: $8 members
      $8 non-members
Instructor: Louise Ayala
Location: Game Room
Description: Louise Ayala has 25 years of teaching experience, with a Kindergarten thru 12 teaching credential. She has mostly taught elementary and spent six years teaching Spanish. Louise learned Spanish as a child growing up in household with two fluent Spanish speaking parents. She also took Spanish in High School and spent her senior year as a tutor and teaching aid, helping to teach. Once in college she decided she only needed one year. As for our class, she will be focusing on conversational Spanish. The class will enable you to carry on limited conversation at first just to get you started. Then as you progress, so will the levels. As for what to bring, just bring a writing instrument and paper. Books might come later. We hope to see you there, or as you will soon be saying, Esperamos verte ahí.

Featured Activity

Nutrition Program
Time: Dailys 12:00 pm
Cost: $1.75 members
      $3.75 Non-seniors non-members
Location: Dining Room
Description: This week, the Highland Senior Center would like to give you a little background on a program that many people take advantage of but probably know little about: their Nutrition Program. It has been going on here at the center for nearly 40 years. When it first began, it was run by San Bernardino County. There was even a cook who prepared the meals at the center. The following year it was taken over by the City of San Bernardino through the Parks and Recreation program, which has been running it ever since. The meals are cooked downtown and delivered to the center Monday through Friday. From there, the centers' Nutrition team of volunteers take over feeding approximately 225 diners every week. Starting at 8:00 am, the group comes in and begins cleaning the kitchen and getting everything ready for the food. When it arrives around 11:00 am they prepare the trays and service begins at 12:00 pm. Once everyone is done, its time to clean the kitchen and dinning area in preparation for the next day. This needs to be done because they are inspected regularly by three different agencies. The County of San Bernardino, the City of San Bernardino, and the Department of Aging and Adult Service. However, its not all about the food. Many people come also come for the social interaction; coming hours early to chat and visit with friends, staying afterwards to participate in activities. As they say, man cannot live by food alone, and the crowd shows that they are hungry for more. The cost is only $1.75 for those ages 60 and older, and $3.75 for non-seniors.
Hoedown
By:
Mark your calendar and get ready to dosey doe as we host our annual Fall Hoedown & Crafters Fair. The event takes place on Saturday, October 5th, from 11 am and carries on until the cows come home...or 1 p.m., whichever comes first! Admission is free, but you need to get tickets beforehand.

Once again the Wemberley Blue Grass Band will be on hand to provide live entertainment and to get people to kick up their boots on the dance floor. There will also be a line dance area outside for those so inclined. If dancing isn’t your thing, you can also find a great deal or early Christmas gift at our Crafters Fair.

After a few hours of dancing or shopping, or both, our guests might be a tad bit hungry. Thank goodness our friends from the Gas Co. will be on hand with their mobile gas bbq. They will BBQing up some mouth-watering grub.

So break out your buggy, saddle that horse, or load up that surrey with the fringe on top and make your way over for a rootin’ tootin’ good time. Heck you can even skip to my lou. Just make sure you make it down here! The shin-dig is sponsored by our good friends at the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, the Gas Co. and Leisure Pointe. For more information call us at (909)862-8104.