HOLDEN COUNCIL ON AGING
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Conference Room – Senior Center
Present: Jerry Heslinga, Richard Mansfield, Susan Sullivan, Faye Ellis, Jacquie Kelly,
Jim Robinson, Louise Charbonneau, Maureen Buffone.
The minutes of the September 6, 2012 meeting were approved and accepted.
F.H.C.O.A. REPORT ~ Barbara Anger
The account balances were not available for the meeting.
Faye reported that the plans for the Friends Fair are coming along. This fair is their major fund raising event.
The Friends have agreed to pay for half of the cost of new blinds for the dining room and for half of the cost of a cabinet for Clare.
HELP AT H.O.M.E. REPORT ~ Jim Robinson
Jim submitted a Financial Report for the period ending September 30, 2012, which covered a 3-month period. Receipts totaled $1,000.00 and disbursements totaled $2,087.52. Donations received since November 2011 amounted to $19,600.00. The goal was $20,000.00.
The Help @ HOME booklets are in the process of being updated. The current fundraiser will be posted on the message board, flyers in light bills, and the town’s website. At this point, it’s just a reminder.
BOARD OF ELDER SERVICES REPORT ~ Richard Mansfield
Rick was not able to attend the last Elder Services meeting, but did receive minutes. There is a deficit expected for the nutrition program and a wait list is expected for homecare. There was discussion about the meals; they vote on the vendor contract once a year.
Updated information was given for ICO (Integrated Care Organizations) which offers a broad range of medical and behavioral health services, as well as long-term services and support, for disabled and challenged individuals between the ages of 21 and 64.
Elder Services will hold their annual meeting on Tuesday, October 16th.
DIRECTOR’S REPORT ~ Louise Charbonneau
Louise outlined October’s events as follows:
Thurs., October 4 ~ Movie “Invincible;” Mon., October 8 ~ Senior Center Closed in observance of Columbus Day; Tues., October 9 ~ Bereavement Support Group; Wed., October 10 ~ Public Power Week Luncheon; Thurs., October 11 ~ Book Discussion Group Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff; Movie “The Tillman Story;” Pen Pal Party ~ Mayo School; Mon., October 15 ~ History of Samplers through Worcester Historical Museum; Thurs., October 18 ~ Movie “One for the Money;” Wed., October 24 ~ Dick Partridge presents a program on Tommy Dorsey; Thurs., October 25 ~ Movie “With Six You Get Egg Roll;” Fri., October 26 ~ Veterans Meeting; Mon., October 29 ~ Keeping Track of Your Medications and
Cost of Prescriptions with Arthur Bergeron & Mass College of Pharmacy.
Louise and Maureen attended the MCOA Conference yesterday. Unfortunately they were only able to spend one day, but they attended interesting workshiops such as: Building Skills of Optimism; The Senior Center as a Center for Healthy Aging: A Concept Whose Time Has Come; How to Eliminate Clutter and Downsize; How to Discuss Sensitive Issues with Older Adults; Collaboration: How to Leverage Your Dollars and Maximize Your Impact and The Role of Senior Centers in Fostering Computer Usage to Members. They put as much into one day as they possibly could and enjoyed it immensely.
As of this past Monday, all of the seats for the Public Power Week luncheon were filled and a wait list was begun. Presently there are approximately 25 people on the wait list. They will be serving Roast Beef, Potatoes, Butternut Squash, Rolls and Butter, Pie and a Beverage. A big thank you was given to John Woodsmall and Jack Cross for allowing some of their employees to help with the cooking and cleaning up. It couldn’t be done without them.
A big thank you was also given to the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office for the pumpkins and cornstalks that were delivered personally by Sheriff Evangelidis. The inmates had a huge garden and donated food to the food bank and other places.
Louise spoke with Jacquie and Adam about some “housekeeping” work here in the building. Specifically the walls need either washing or painting. Adam’s suggestion was to have some of the about to be released inmates from the Worcester County House of Correction come and do the work. Louise would simply have to write a letter of request to Sheriff Evangelidis such that he could schedule it. The materials and lunch for the crew would have to be provided.
After many years of service, not only on our Board but the Friends Board and helping with just about every aspect of what we do, Barbara Anger has decided to resign her seat on this Board effective tomorrow. She assured Louise that she will still be around and willing to help. We thank her for her service and wish her some well deserved time to do exactly as she pleases when she pleases.
If anyone has any suggestions for a successor to her seat, please either call or e-mail Louise or Maureen. Louise would really like to have a new person appointed by our next meeting. She will talk to Jacquie about possibly adding more than one member as getting a quorum for our meetings is getting more and more difficult due to the low number of members. Louise encouraged the board members to offer suggestions of people who might like to serve on the Board.
Louise informed the board that the mayor of Marlborough visited the senior center with members of the committee that are looking into building a new senior center. They toured our building and asked questions.
Louise prepared an outline of the Property Tax Work off Programs from towns with comparable elder population as Holden and distributed it to the board in response to the request by Dawn Torres-Gale at the September 6th board meeting. Louise had explained to her that it is a budget issue, but she chose to bring it the HCOA board. Louise informed the board that when we did it over ten (10) years ago, we got very few applicants, and most of the applicants were men. Not all of the departments wanted to participate. After some discussion, Jerry Heslinga suggested the board members take it under consideration until the next meeting to give them the opportunity to read over the report and vote at the November meeting. Louise will let Ms. Torres-Gale know.
OLD AND NEW BUSINESS
There was no old or new business to be conducted.
CITIZENS ADDRESS
None.
ADJOURNMENT
It was unanimously voted to adjourn the meeting at 9:07 a.m.
The next meeting will be held on Thursday, November 1, 2012 at 8:00 a.m. at the Holden Senior Center.
Respectfully submitted,
Maureen Buffone
MINUTES AMENDED 1/22/2013
| 
