Minutes
Council On Aging · from the Town's website · 4 pages · 33 KB
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MEETING MINUTES WINTHROP COUNCIL ON AGING Date: Thursday, October 10, 2024 Time: 10:30 AM Location: Robert A. DeLeo Senior Center 35 Harvard Street, Winthrop, MA 02152 Present: Matt Rodes, Director, Council on Aging Linda Cronin Kathy Driscoll Cynthia Huff Heather Martin Absent: Alice Haskell, Chair Mary Vitale Call to order at 10:37 AM by Matt Rodes, Director, Winthrop Council on Aging I. Approval of Minutes A Motion to approve the Minutes of the September 12, 2024 meeting was made by Cynthia Huff and seconded by Linda Cronin. Minutes were approved. II. Announcements There were no new announcements presented. III. Director ’ s Comments A. Matt Rodes reported that our Volunteer Appreciation lunch party went very well and was enjoyed by all attendees. B. Matt Rodes reported that the Delvena production of Nun of This and Nun of That was a big hit and was attended by over 75 people. The Delvena Group will be back again next year. The event planned for next year is a murder mystery with an Italian food motif, and we are thinking of having a pasta luncheon to go along with this. C. Matt Rodes reported that the Thanksgiving Lunch being sponsored by Bill Squires/Championship Physical Therapy will be held on Wednesday, November 13. 70 tickets have been sold already, and there are 20 left available for sale. D. Matt Rodes reported that our Holiday party will be held on Sunday, December 8 at the Elks which is sponsoring this event. This event will be noted in our November Newsletter. Attendance for this event will be limited to 100 guests. Matt reported that one of our van drivers, Tom Larity will be operating the van that day to transport people who are in need of a ride to the party. E. Matt Rodes reported that the Police Senior Partnership sessions will be starting up again, with the first session, Meet the Police, scheduled for Tuesday, October 22. Regarding the November 19 session, which is a tour of the 911 Emergency facility in Revere, Matt reported that anyone who would like to attend this needs to sign up at the front desk. Our van, which can hold 8 passengers, will be available to transport attendees to the facility, and the police have a van that could handle any additional attendees. Regarding our December session, Matt reported that the Suffolk County DA ’ s office will be conducting a Fraud Fighters session. F. Matt Rodes reported that Meredith Hurley had reached out to him with respect to the CLEAR Team. She would like to have a monthly session at the Senior Center starting in 2025. They would like to start with a Lunch and Learn session for attendees to meet the CLEAR Team on December 11. More information on this will be in our November Newsletter. G. Matt Rodes reported that we are still planning to hold our Health Fair in the Spring of 2025. Linda Cronin reported that she had discussed this with Kirsten Kilburn at our recent Volunteer Appreciation Lunch. H. Matt Rodes reported that the Rogers Hearing sessions have been very successful. Jay, the owner, would like to begin conducting these sessions monthly. They are currently booked solid. I. Matt Rodes reported that Jay Higgins from Rep. Katherine Clark ’ s office will be holding an informational session at the Senior Center on Monday, October 21, at 1PM to discuss the services offered by Rep. Clark ’ s office, and he will also be available for any questions following the presentation. J. Matt Rodes reported that we are still looking for a new Spanish teacher. We have the name of someone who may possibly be interested or may be able to recommend someone to us, and Matt indicated he will be contacting this person. K. Matt Rodes reported that National Grid recently conducted a session at the Senior Center and will be back to conduct another next month. He indicated that Rachel Cruz from National Grid is planning to host an informational energy session at the Senior Center in January. This will be a 4-hour informational session and will include lunch brought by National Grid. L. Matt Rodes reported that this year ’ s Senior Tax Work-Off Program will be ending on October 15. He indicated that the program was very successful. He indicated he may think of changing the program next year to give priority to people with financial issues and may also think of providing job descriptions of the available positions in order to fit the right person into the right job. He indicated that there are usually 20 participants in this program. M. Matt Rodes indicated that we still have some gaps available to be filled in our weekly/monthly activity schedule. Matt asked for any ideas we or anyone else may have for additional activities to add to our activity schedule. N. Matt Rodes reported that the Travel Committee has a new member and a new Chair – Christine LaVigueur. Matt indicated that he will meet with the Best of Times representative to discuss their sign-up portal and discuss ways for people to sign up for trips through the portal. People would be able to pay online through the portal using a credit card, and we could still take payments from participants without computer access. Matt indicated that for the trips, we pre-pay to ensure we will get seats up front, and as participants pay, we get the money back. O. Matt Rodes reported that regarding van trips, we had 200 riders in September. We have had 1,900 for the year to date, with 1,300 of these being in Winthrop. To date, we have used $2,000 of the $5,000 grant money we were awarded. With respect to transportation, Linda Cronin indicated that she was in the process of applying for The Ride. She said that she would be happy to provide information to people who are interested in this. It was agreed that this was a great idea, and Matt will discuss this further with Linda with respect to this service being provided monthly at the Senior Center. P. Matt Rodes reported that the Assistant Director/Outreach Coordinator position has been posted with the Town, and the deadline for applications is next Thursday, October 17. Q. Matt Rodes reported that the Bake Sale conducted by the Friends of the Winthrop Council on Aging during the recent Flu Clinic at the Senior Center was very successful and brought in $456. Their LaSiesta fundraiser originally planned for November will be held in the Spring of 2025 instead. R. Matt Rodes reported that the Friends of the Winthrop Council on Aging annual fundraising letter will be going out shortly. S. Matt Rodes reported that the Town is looking for residents ’ thoughts on the location of the new fire station. There is a QR code that can be used for this, and the Senior Center can help people without computer access and submit paper votes to the Town. T. Matt Rodes reported that early voting for the 2024 election will begin on October 19, and the dates will be posted on our bulletin board. IV. Adjournment There being no further business, a Motion to Adjourn was made by Heather Martin and Linda Cronin and seconded by Cynthia Huff. The meeting was adjourned at 11:43 AM. Our next meeting will be held on Thursday, November 14, 2024. Respectfully Submitted Kathy Driscoll, Secretary, Winthrop Council on Aging Adopted by the Board at the meeting of November 14, 2024 ___________________________________ Alice Haskell, Chair Winthrop Council on Aging