Multi-Tasking with Your Donation Dollars |
By Gail Sharp
How to Know if You Are a Multi-tasker
Do you run a load of laundry while preparing dinner? Pick up the dry cleaning and a sack of pet food on the way home from work? Solve internet Sudoku puzzles while writing a newsletter article? If you answered “yes” to the first two questions, then you are a multi-tasker. If you answered “yes” to the third question, then you are a procrastinator! For multi-taskers and procrastinators alike, the following are some dual duty donation ideas that can easily be incorporated into your life.
Donate and Clean Out the Garage
If you have more vehicles than vehicle users in your household, consider the VJCC’s Donate-A-Vehicle program. Donate a car, boat, motorcycle or RV to the Center. The Center receives 50% of the sales proceeds and you get a tax deduction AND the reclaimed parking and storage space!
Donate and Play Golf (and Eat)
Golfers don’t need another excuse to golf, but here’s one anyway, “The donation includes a spot in the tournament.” Sponsorship donations to the Annual VJCC Golf Tournament start at “Friends Sponsor” which is a personalized message to a favorite golfer in the Golf Program, on up to the Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum Sponsorships which include tournament registration, lunch and much, much more. “Can’t waste a tee time!”
Donate and Play Bingo (and Eat)
Twice a year the VJCC hosts Bingo Night. Saturday, April 25 is the first Bingo Night of 2009. For a dollar for three bingo cards, you can play, visit with friends and maybe become one of the big WINNERS! Come early and have dinner. Purchasing a bento box meal is another way to support and donate to the clubs of the VJCC.
Donate and Eat (and Shop and Play)
The grand dame of Center fundraisers is the VJCC Summer Festival, which offers cultural exhibits and demonstrations, ondo dancing… and great food! Since the early 1960s, we have eaten our way through sushi, wonton, tacos, snow cones, udon, teriyaki chicken and spam musubi; all for a good cause. We love to eat! And, don’t forget the White Elephant and Plant Sales and all of the game booths. It all goes toward supporting the clubs and the Center. The Festival Planning Committee is already meeting and getting ready for the big weekend, June 20-21, 2009. Bring your appetites!
Donate and Watch a Tree Grow On entering the gym foyer, one cannot help but notice the serene visual setting in which our beautiful Legacy Tree is growing. Sometimes the gym is relatively quiet and the tree can be admired and read. Sometimes the gym is filled with the bounce, bounce, bounce of basketballs or the thump, thump, thump of bodies landing on dojo mats. The tree is equally majestic surrounded by all of the activity. A donation to the Legacy Tree will help to ensure that the quiet times, the periods of high activity, and everything in between, will continue happening for our children, our grandchildren, and so on. |
The Legacy Tree |
Talk Story: 1920 to 1960
By Alexa Giffen
The past few months have been full of research and planning by the Homecoming Committee. Currently we are working on gathering stories, information, and pictures for a booklet about the Community Center’s history, from its beginning to present day. While the project is still in early development, our projected completion date is October 2010. Although we have collected oral histories and photographs from people who have been involved with the Center throughout its existence, there is still so much more to cover. If you find yourself reading this and thinking, “Hmm, I wonder if I can help?”, read on. Even if that doesn’t cross your mind, keep reading!
We are always looking for photo contributions. Right now we are especially looking for earlier pictures of the Center and the Venice area. However, our hunt for photographs isn’t limited only to the early days of the Center. All pictures are highly appreciated and your help is always valued.
Aside from collecting photographs, the Homecoming Committee is also seeking to get in touch with people who grew up in or moved to the Venice area before and during the decade after the War. Ideally, we’d like to gather a group and talk about what the area was like and any memories or stories you might have. Saturday, May 16, 2009 from 11:00 AM until 1:00 PM is the tentative date for Talk Story: 1920 to 1960. If you have any questions, feel free to contact the Homecoming Committee at vcjacl@gmail.com or leave a telephone message at the Center at (310) 822-8885.
Senior Moments - Use It or Lose It?
(Source: News-Medical.Net and Web Sudoku)
By Aileen Hongo
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I recently participated in a Healthy Aging workshop at the Central California Women’s Facility that houses over 3,300 female inmates. I met with the “Silver Foxes,” an older prisoner support group consisting of female prisoners over the age of 55. We discussed the challenges of healthy aging behind bars and how prisons can be depicted as a microcosm of our society. Aging issues inside are the same as |
those on the outside. One of the main topics the ladies wanted to discuss was memory loss and dementia since prison life is difficult for older inmates as a whole, but compounded when one is mentally or physically challenged.
In efforts to keep mentally active and alert, the Silver Foxes started a Sudoku group. Julie (not her real name) is 65 years old and finds Sudoku relaxing yet mentally stimulating. She said Sudoku is ideal because one can work on puzzles either alone or in group settings. Sometimes contests are held on who could finish the puzzles first.
Sudoku is a number puzzle made of a 9 x 9 grid. The object is to fill the grids so that each row/column contains the digits from 1-9 without repeating the numbers. For example, you cannot have two 9’s in a row or column. The puzzles are usually partially filled. According to Wikipedia, the modern puzzle was invented in 1979 by an American architect, Howard Garns, and called the “Number Place.” But it was popularized in 1986 by Nikoli, a Japanese puzzle company, under the name of Sudoku, meaning single number.
Today, there are numerous books on Sudoku and many periodicals carry various versions. I tried a few puzzles but was disheartened when my 15 year old could figure out a puzzle hours before I could even get halfway through. It is indeed mentally stimulating and a lot of fun. It’s a different version of the crossword puzzle except you are searching for the right number instead of a word. The biggest challenge is you cannot repeat the number vertically or horizontally.
Here’s a sample puzzle to try. I’ll submit the answers in the next column so that you will have a whole month to work on it. Who knows? Maybe the next group to form at VJCC will be a Sudoku Club! Good luck!
The information provided on this column is intended to provide helpful health and wellness information to the general public. The information is not rendered as a medical, health, psychological or other professional diagnosis, treatment or cure and should not be used in place of a call or visit to a medical professional, who should be consulted before adopting any suggestions in this column or drawing inferences from it.
