OLLI and Reuter Center Winter Break Closing
 OLLI and the Reuter Center will close for the winter break at 5 p.m., Friday, December 15, 2017 and reopen on Tuesday, January 2, 2018.
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OLLI VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
Manna Food Bank Team
Providing tens of thousands of meals a day to hungry people
Homeward Bound
Welcome Home Center
The key to ending homelessness
Roots Foundation
The garden is the classroom
VOLUNTEER NOW ... It's the time of year to make a difference!
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Stitch in Time Special Interest Group (SIG)
Monday, December 4, 2 p.m.,
Reuter Center Atrium
Stitch in Time is a new special interest group that will meet the first Monday of the month, 2-4 p.m.
This is a fellowship group for stitchers of all types (knitting, crochet, quilting, needlepoint, embroidery, cross stitch, sewing, etc) to help encourage, inspire, and support each other. All skill levels welcome!
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OLLI's Volunteer Spotlight,
Phase 2
by Carol Gillen
In January, we will launch the next phase of this series, begun a year ago, focusing on our wonderful OLLI instructors and volunteers. These folks, with great creativity and enthusiasm, have shared what makes their teaching/volunteer experiences fun and personally meaningful. I'm sure you will enjoy reading their responses.
We also hope you will consider volunteering in some capacity at OLLI. We each have a lifetime of meaningful experiences and skills that we can share -- a result of living long, complicated, interesting lives!
As always, many thanks to all of our instructors, volunteers and our remarkable OLLI staff - you make the magic happen!
For more information or to give us your quote for this project, contact Carol Gillen,
carol@gillen.com
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Astronomy Club of Asheville
6th Annual Club Holiday Social
Thursday, December 7, 7-9 p.m.
Reuter Center Manheimer Room
This event will include refreshments, door prizes and a silent auction featuring a large selection of both astronomy- and non-astronomy items.
Items will be on display beginning at 6:30 p.m., with the auction closing at 8 p.m. The evening is open to all, so bring family and friends, bid on an item or two and show your support for the club!
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Reuter Center Singers
Holiday Concert
Monday, December 11, 7 p.m.
Reuter Center Manheimer Room
The Reuter Center Singers, OLLI's in-house choral group directed by Chuck Taft, study and perform classical, popular and show tunes. In their Holiday Concert they will present traditional choral music and offer the opportunity to sing along with carols of the season. Light refreshments will be served. The concert is free and open to everyone. Donations are appreciated.
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Basketball and Barbecue!!
Wednesday, January 24, 6 p.m.
Sherrill Center, Kimmel Arena
For the first time ever, fans of the UNC Asheville Bulldogs men's b
 asketball team and friends of the Asheville Symphony will have an opportunity to support both organizations at a
Musical Feast on Wednesday, January 24, 2018 in Kimmel Arena. A barbecue dinner with all the trimmings, including beer, will be served at
6 p.m.
Janet R. Cone, Director of
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Janet Cone
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Athletics at UNC Asheville will speak on her unique career as one of only four women to serve as athletics director at the university level in the country. Then, the UNC Asheville Bulldogs will play Gardner- Webb in the Kimmel Arena at
7 p.m. Participants will have a special section to enjoy the game. Tickets for the game are included in the price of the event. The UNC Asheville Bulldogs have been named the most likely to win the Big South Conference this year, and the game should be very exciting to watch.
Proceeds from the feast will go to the Asheville
 Symphony Orchestra. Feast tickets are limited. You will find more information at the Symphony Guild website,
ashevillesyphonyguild.org. When you enter the site, click on Musical Feasts on the top bar, then scroll down the list of feasts to January 2018, Musical Feast: Basketball and Barbecue for more information and tickets.
This feast will be hosted by Sam and Robin Harben, members of OLLI and the Symphony Guild. They are hoping for a good turnout of interested OLLI members to support both of these organizations and UNC Asheville.
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Special Thanks
CREW helps those considering relocation in retirement examine all their options carefully and make an informed decision about this major life transition.
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Dear OLLI Members,
First, some practical information. If you signed up for Winter 2018 courses you should have received a schedule of courses. You may also check your schedule by logging on to our website and Our add/drop period begins Monday, December 4, 10 a.m. so there is still time to sign up for courses. We will have staff and volunteers at the Reuter Center to help with sign up. If you are calling us with questions, please remember that it is helpful to leave only one message and to leave a message with only one staff member. We have a system for taking and returning calls, but we are most efficient with our time if we are not duplicating efforts. It may take a little longer to get through tomorrow, but we will work as we can to meet your needs.
Please remember that you have until Friday, January 5, 2018, 3 p.m. to request a full refund for your course fees. The OLLI office and the online registration system will close Friday, December 15, 5 p.m. and re-open Tuesday, January 2, 2018, 8 a.m.This is slightly different from the schedule we announced in our catalog.
Tomorrow is the annual "Education Day" basketball game when children come from around Western North Carolina to enjoy a basketball game and visit a college campus. As buses load and unload, there may be traffic delays on Campus Drive. If you are coming for registration help, you may want to enter campus through another route.
Now for some reflection. We try to keep our memorials to our members simple, but occasionally we lose someone who has helped to shape our organization in unique ways. Nick Jordan, who passed away this past week, was one of those individuals who helped us see our work in new ways. Nick had always seemed like a force of nature. He first came to OLLI to explore ways to connect SCORE, the Senior Corps of Retired Executives, with OLLI. He became a facilitator for our Paths to Creative Retirement program; during every break you could find Nick surrounded by a group of people, telling stories that made us laugh and made a point about the possibilities of this phase of life, of maintaining a sense of purpose and fun. You could always tell when Nick was waiting for his Men's Wisdom Works group to convene, because there would be a group of people at one of our lobby sofas laughing and talking. He had a gift for making everyone feel heard, welcomed and valued.
Nick came to our life transitions committee and matter-of-factly told us that he had had a terminal cancer diagnosis. He responded to this as he had to all of the challenges in his life; he made a plan to manage it. He gathered his papers; he planned his funeral; he created a series of legacy gifts for his family. He wanted to help others respond in the same way, with joy and learning and a sense of control. With support from the committee, "The Gift of Time," an end of life planning program, was born. Thanks to Dr. David Mouw we had been holding advance care planning workshops, but Nick, working with OLLI members Dave Castel, Ken McFarlane, Chuck Rosenblum, Paula Withrow, staff member Laurel Jernigan and others, developed a program that brought Nick's spirit and care to this process. As one of our Paths participants noted, Nick would introduce himself as someone who was dying and then give you ten reasons why you should want to live with passion and purpose. In remembering Nick, who taught us so much about dying well, I keep thinking of the phrase "joie de vivre"; Nick taught us how to live every moment with joy in things grand and simple and for that we are grateful.
With respect for all that you do to model creative retirement,
Catherine Frank
Executive Director
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Check the links here to see OLLI and UNC Asheville current events:
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UNC Asheville Athletic Events
Monday, December 4, 11:30 a.m
Women's Basketball UNC Asheville vs. Warren Wilson, Kimmel Arena
Sunday, December 10, 1 p.m.
Women's Basketball UNC Asheville vs. Mercer, Kimmel Arena
Sunday, December 10, 3:30 p.m.
Men's Basketball UNC Asheville vs. Milligan, Kimmel Arena
Go Bulldogs!
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World Affairs Council
Tuesday, December 5, 7:30 p.m., Reuter Center Manheimer Room
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Ali Demirdas
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The State of the Middle East in the Post-ISIS Era by Ali Demirdas
Demirdas teaches international studies as an adjunct member of the faculty at the College of Charleston. He earned a doctorate in political science at the University of South Carolina, and a master's degree at Suleyman Demirel University in his native Turkey.
The World Affairs Council lectures at UNC Asheville will return in 2018 with the Great Decisions Series, with six talks slated for Tuesday nights in February and March. Admission to World Affairs Council presentations at UNC Asheville is $10 for the public; free to members of the World Affairs Council and UNC Asheville students. OLLI members receive a discount on World Affairs Council annual membership.
Click here to visit the World Affairs Council website.
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 Holiday Volunteer Opportunities
Looking for ways you might kick up the holiday spirit and bring joy to others? You may want to consider one of these community options.
Montford Holiday Tour of Homes: Cookie bakers are needed for the Saturday, December 9th event. Each baker, who bakes three (3) dozen cookies will receive one complimentary ticket and Keepsake Booklet ($25.00 value) to the eleven homes on tour. Please contact: Pamela Phillips, 828-505-5838,
pamela.montfordcookies@gmail.com
Eblen Charities:
Volunteers are needed to help in their St. Nicholas Toy Store, which will be open weekdays from December 7-21 at the Westgate Shopping Center.
Children 7 to 12 are welcome to serve alongside their parent. Middle and high school students are welcome to sign up for a station except for the teen zone. We have community partners who have committed to staff a whole day of the store and those days are locked, but hopefully you can find another time that works for you.
2. Enter your email address: (You will NOT need to register an account on SignUp)
3. Sign up! Choose your spots - SignUp will send an automated confirmation and reminders.
Note: Eblen Charities does not share your email address with anyone. If you prefer not to use your email address, please contact Geneva Neeriemer (
eblentoystorevolunteers@gmail.com or 828-712-6108 ) and she can sign you up manually.
Last year this project brought joy to 1700 families, including 4200 children, as they collected and distributed toys, books, stuffed animals and bicycles.
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Sierra Club Event
Wednesday, December 6, 6:30 p.m.
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville,
Holiday Party &
Community Environmental Awards
Sierra Club presents "Community Environmental Awards" with our holiday potluck dinner.
Please bring a dish to share and your own place settings.
Free and open to everyone.
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Special Interest Group The Forum
Friday, December 8, 1 p.m., Room 205
 Topic: "Are We Losing Our Democracy?"
This special interest group offers a dialogue to challenge your thinking. They meet on Fridays, 1 p.m. and offer a different discussion topic each week.
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Thriving in Community: a new SIG
Friday, December 8, 2:30 p.m., Room 102A
As much as we'd all love to live independently in our own homes to the end of our d
 ays, we also know age- and health-related issues can crop up that may make this dream difficult or impossible to achieve. "Thriving in Community" is a new OLLI Special Interest Group (SIG) dedicated to the exploration of creative options that can improve the odds of successfully aging in the neighborhood, community and place of our choosing. Join this dynamic group Friday, December 8, Reuter Center Room 102A, 2:30 - 4 pm for a participative discussion led by Amy Davison and Fred Cardina to explore whether this journey is for you.
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Death Cafe
Friday, December 8, 5 p.m., Reuter Center atrium
"Death Café" is an engaging gathering that engages participants in a conversation that too often alienates members of our death phobic culture. A new movement, a shift, is at play in recovering the ritual of being with death through personal storytelling of fears and loss. A deepening ritual emerges and we build a culture of dying wisely.
Join us at our next Death Cafe, the new holy ground or common ground centered on the wonders of being with dying. This program is facilitated by Thirdmessenger's Karen Sanders, Greg Lathrop and Sa'id Osio. You can learn more about Death Cafe at
http://deathcafe.com/thirdmessenger.com
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Smith-McDowell House Museum's Christmas Twilight Tour
Friday, December 8, 6-8 p.m.
The Western North Carolina Historical Association (WNCHA) is presenting its annual Christmas Twilight Tour at the Smith-McDowell House Museum (circa 1840). This hour-long evening tour features costumed interpreters who will share "Christmas at Buck House" in story and song in six period rooms, decorated for the season. Call the Smith-McDowell House at 828.253.9231 to reserve a ticket: $20, or $15 for WNCHA members. Tours are scheduled to begin at half-hour intervals from 6 to 8 p.m.
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Blue Ridge Orchestra Revels 2017
Saturday, December 9, 3 p.m., UNC Asheville's Lipinsky Auditorium
Sunday, December 10, 3 p.m, Folk Art Center, Blue Ridge Parkway,
Milepost 382
The Blue Ridge Orchestra is excited to present a holiday mix of classical and contemporary treats. The performance features the dances from Tchaikovsky's
Nutcraker, Carol of the Bells with local Carolina Day student Zaria Joyner on electric guitar, a sing-along of beloved carols, pop favorites, and more.
Tickets $15 General Admission, $10 Friend, $5 Student, FREE for kids 6 & under.
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A Free Evening Forum at UNC Asheville
China: Key to the North Korea Threat?
Tuesday, January 9, 2018, 7 p.
m., Reuter Center Manheimer Room
Many Asia experts believe that China holds the key to preventingfurther escalation of the nuclear threat from North Korea.
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Jim Lenburg
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That theory and more will be discussed by two prominent China scholars,Dr. Jim Lenburg, professor-emeritus at Mars Hill University, and Dr. Sarah-Ann Smith, a noted author and former member of the U.S. diplomatic corps in Hong Kong.
The program will be moderated by Dr. Elizabeth O.Colton, also a veteran of the U.S. diplomatic corps. This free event is co-sponsored by Leadership Asheville Forum and OLLI.
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Thomas Wolfe Book Club
Beginning January, 2018
Beginning in January of 2018 and continuing through April, a
 monthly Thomas Wolfe Book Club will meet in downtown Asheville at the Thomas Wolfe Memorial State Historic Site. Each month a different local educator will lead the club in discussion of a pre-selected short story written by Thomas Wolfe.
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Click here to visit the UNC Asheville Athletics webpage
