Council on Aging

City of Marlborough Council on Aging Board Minutes of May 14, 2024, Meeting The regular meeting of the Council on Aging Board was held on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, at 8:30 AM at the Marlborough Senior Center, 40 New Street. Board members present: Judy Benedetto, Leslie Biggar, Joseph Bisol, Jim Confrey, Kathy Faddoul, Pat Gallier, Zella Haesche, Judy Kane, Raymond Magee, Donna Scalcione, Linda Warren Absent-Trish Pope Guest Speakers: Mary Grimaldi – COA Program Coordinator & John Barrington, President – Friends of the Marlborough Seniors Meeting adjourned at 9:45 AM Ordered: The minutes of the April 9th meeting. The minutes of the April 9th meeting have been previously distributed. There were no corrections or changes to the minutes. The minutes of the April 9th meeting are approved as distributed. Guest Speaker – Mary Grimaldi – COA Program Coordinator Since Trish was not present, the discussion regarding how the Board could assist Mary will be deferred until a future meeting when Trish is present. Mary, the Program Coordinator for the Senior Center, is responsible for development, promotion, and coordination of all activities at the Senior Center, the Newsletter content and promoting programs at the front desk and at the chalkboard in the lobby. Mary started at the Senior Center in September 2023. Planning is done two months ahead. Mary looks at recurring activities such as movies. Mary picks two a movies month and chooses the dates. The movies do not have to be popular ones, just ones with good content. Recently there was a Dennis Quiad movie that no one had heard of but everyone enjoyed. Mary recently brought back Bingo. Mary looks to see if it is a good month for a party. This month is Motown hits and there has been a good response, over 60 people have signed up. Lunch and Learn is another integral part of programming. There is lunch and an educational presentation. These take place once or twice a month. Mary also has fun presentations. A gentleman is coming in to talk about the Greatest Sitcoms of All Times. Mary has a creative component, a craft or planting workshop for the month. This month we are having acrylic painting. Mary continues to work on trips. They are doing well with people signing up. In July there is a boat ride on Plymouth Harbor and in the fall a trip to the Newport Playhouse Cabaret Dinner Theater. Mary is open to new games. We have a gentleman who is coming in to teach people to play hearts. The activities need to be budget friendly and wallet friendly for the seniors. She also looks at ongoing activities. For instance, the bereavement support group was only seeing 1-2 people each time, so it was changed to a Grief Workshop with a different topic regarding grief each week. This increased participation to 5-6 people a week. Mary also keeps abreast of current events. On June 12th there will be a Tom Brady Day with a Northboro author coming to speak. May was mental health awareness month and there was a mindfulness stress reduction workshop that sold out. Mary tries to tie in things that are happening in the community. Mary enjoys intergenerational programs, whether it is the Health Technology students from Assabet interacting with the seniors or the Computer Tech student from Assabet coming in to help, The students are happy to help and the seniors like interacting with the students. Mary looks at what other senior centers are doing and library programs. Mary states she is always open to suggestions. Skinner antique appraisal is coming in June to assess items for free. Ray asked about support groups for members with families with dementia. Lisa may have more information as she is the outreach coordinator. Mary mentioned the Daybreak program on Wednesdays here. Kathy stated the Alzheimer’s Association has multiple support groups both in person and online. Board members expressed gratitude for the work Mary is doing. Guest Speaker – John Barrington President of the Friends of the Marlborough Seniors John has been on the Friends of the Marlboro Seniors Board since 2023 and was elected President 2 months ago. The main purpose of the Friends is fundraising, and John is working to increase the amount of money in their account. This money will be used to help decrease the cost of programming. In the past, the Friends paid for the mailings for the newsletter. Currently, the Senior Center has taken over that cost. John stated there are over 9,000 seniors living in Marlboro over the age of 60. 1,700 newsletters go out each month and only 450 are paid for with the yearly $10 donation. In the past, they have made donations to the Senior Center such as a microphone used in exercise classes. The Friends also maintain the gift shop. The gift shop makes $300-$600 a month. They have no trouble getting donations and anything they do not sell is left out for anyone to take. There are 4 members on the Friends board. John plans on holding a coffee hour at the Senior Center in June to promote the work the Friends are doing. There was discussion on the Friends annual dues and confusion on when they are due. Membership is renewed each January. There are no good systems in place at this time to monitor members and remove members from the newsletter mailing if people do not pay their dues. Executive Director’s Report – None Chair – Updates ● Joe informed the board that he had extended an invitation to Mike Ossing to make a presentation at the June meeting to the Board on parliamentary procedure. He thought it would be helpful to have a refresher course on how meetings are conducted. Mike will also address the issue of how changes are made to the by-laws as it relates to the City charter & state law. ● Joe informed the board that the current plan is to present the draft of the by-laws and the changes that were excluded at the July meeting. At this time, it will be the ONLY item on the agenda. ● Joe informed the board that Zella Haesche has agreed to be the Sunshine fund manager. Collections to the fund will resume in June and the suggested donation is $5.00 per member. Motion by Judy Kane, seconded by the Chair to adopt the following: ● ORDERED: There being no further business, the regular meeting of the Council on Aging Board is herewith adjourned at 9:45 AM; adopted.