Welcome to The Santiva Heartbeat... January 2024 Newsletter

Welcome to The Santiva Heartbeat - News From the Santiva Islanders, our e-newsletter full of updates, event dates, and information for our members. The Santiva Islanders is an organization designed for all adults, offering exercise classes, special events, trips, health and wellness programs, social gatherings, seminars and lots of camaraderie.

We serve active adults on Sanibel, Captiva, and the surrounding area. Whether you are a year-round resident, part-time resident or visitor, please join us!

New Year, New Location, New Schedule!

While some things will stay the same, 2024 is bringing lots of changes to Santiva Islanders, some we know, some we are still working. Here’s the deal—

New Location

St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church (St Michael’s) has moved back into its main building and is closing the Gathering Place to begin remodeling it back into Noah’s Ark. (We are all thrilled about this as the whole island sorely misses Noah’s Ark, which is scheduled to reopen in the fall.) Accordingly, as of January 1, Santiva Islanders will be operating activities previously held at the Gathering Place at St. Michael’s main building.

New Schedule

As we move into St. Michael’s main building, we are making some changes to our scheduled activities. This is still a work in progress, but we do know that—

Cardio & Strength with Mahnaz will now be held on most Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 10:00am to 11:00am in the Parish Hall. Participants overwhelmingly voted for this new schedule and the church was gracious enough to oblige where they could. However, there will be times when this is not possible. Please check the calendar handed out in the exercise class or the one posted at santivaislanders.org for actual dates.

Coffee and Conversation (previously called the Coffee Bistro) will now be held on most Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 9:30am to 11:30am in the St. Michael’s Library. As with the exercise class, there will be times when the church’s schedule will prevent this activity from happening. Again, the calendar handed out in the exercise class and the one posted at santivaislanders.org will have the correct dates.

Mahjong and Bridge will now be played on Thursdays from 1:00pm to 3:30pm in the St. Michael’s Library. Please contact Robin Christian at [email protected] for information about Mahjong or Bryant Korn at [email protected] for information about bridge.

Page Turners Book Club will continue to be held on the second Tuesday of the month at 1pm, but now we will meet in person in the St. Michael’s Library, as well as via Zoom. Contact us at [email protected] for questions, to be added to the Page Turners’ email list, and to receive the Zoom information.

What’s the Same?

Monday Happy Hours. We will still be hosting our happy hours at MudBugs every Monday from 4:00pm to 6:00pm in 2024. If you haven’t joined us yet, you’re missing a lot of fun. Come as you are--Sanibel casual. No reservation or advance notice is required. Just pull up a chair.

Leisure Lunches. We will still be hosting our ever-popular monthly lunches at various local restaurants during 2024. The schedule varies monthly, so be sure to check our calendar at santivaislanders.org. Contact Deborah Butler at [email protected] for information and to reserve a spot.

More to Come…

Our activities committee is diligently working on adding new activities and outings this season, including a trip to see a Florida Everblades hockey game and a tour of Shell Point. We also hope to bring back hot dog lunches, lectures, socials and more.

Watch for emails from Santiva Islanders with updates. Check our calendar at santivaislanders.org for the latest information.

We hope to see you soon!

We are introducing our 2024 Inaugural Kayak Season, Please see the flyer and FAQ sheet below

Click for more info

Introducing the Island Seniors, Inc.

2024 Board of Directors

President: Robin Christian

Vice-President: Katrina Wihelm

Secretary: Robyn Moran

Treasurer: Bernard Arroyo

DIRECTORS

Susan Talmage, Carole Fallon,

Linda Hines, Deborah Butler,

Laura Korn

Island Seniors, Inc.

Annual Membership Meeting Minutes

December 7, 2023

Click Below to View

Annual Meeting Minutes

ANNOUNCEMENT OF MEMBERSHIP DUES POLICY AND DUES INCREASE

Annual Membership Dues for Island Seniors, Inc. (DBA Santiva Islanders) will be increased to $25 beginning with the 2024 membership year. This is necessary due to loss of support from the City of Sanibel and increase in expenses.

Note: There has been no increase of dues for nearly 20 years. Any person who feels they cannot afford to pay the dues may petition the Board for an exclusion from paying dues for one year by emailing us at [email protected] or calling (239) 413-7324.

Members will be notified of payment of annual dues in November of each year. This notification will be by an announcement in the monthly Newsletter. An additional notice will be emailed directly to members.

Payment is due January 1 of each year. There is no late fee or proration of dues if paid later in the year.

Members who do not pay their dues by the due date may be placed on an inactive list after three months.

Members who join and pay the full dues after November 1 of each year will be considered full members for the succeeding year.

Members who are 90 years of age or older will receive free lifetime membership. Please email us at [email protected] if you qualify for this benefit so we can properly reflect your honorary status in our records.

Thanks in advance for your continued support!

Click here: Renew Your 2024 Membership

Hollywood Comes to Sanibel

Was a Hallmark movie just filmed on Sanibel and Captiva? Here's what we know.

Robyn George - Fort Myers News-Press

Rumors have been swirling like winter snow (or blowing sand in our case) about a movie being filmed at local restaurants on the islands.

RC Otter’s Island Eats on Captiva and Doc Ford’s Rum Bar & Grille on Sanibel are two of the locations that briefly closed for production earlier this week.

“It was fun for sure,” said Sandy Stilwell Youngquist, the owner of RC Otter’s. “What a great experience. They spent three full days filming. When it comes out I’ll be disappointed if we’re just a snippet.”

The originally scheduled, early morning day shoots quickly changed.

“Captiva is so magical at night and they saw that,” Stilwell Youngquist said. “They filmed all night long, once until 3 a.m. My poor manager stayed with it all the way through.”

Local neighbors and some of RC Otter’s regular customers and staff served as extras as did Stilwell Youngquist.

“It was really fun to see them as extras,” she said. “They sat at tables for hours. I didn’t do that. I was an extra who would be seen walking by.”

Stilwell Youngquist believes the script centers around “a woman who goes on vacation to the Sundial on Captiva then meets and falls in love with our entertainer.”

“They filmed at Bubble Room Emporium one day,” she added. “I think they’re trying to do this as a promotion for the islands. A post-hurricane story is what I think it is.”

The big question is whether or not it’s a Hallmark movie.

“I didn’t see any Hallmark logos or anything,” Stilwell Youngquist said, “so I’m hesitant to say. But it did have a very Hallmark feel to it.”

And she should know.

“Oh my gosh,” she said. “I’m addicted (to Hallmark movies). I’ll turn them on and fall asleep happy. They and I are all about positive energy.”

Shooting at the award-winning, family-friendly restaurant took place on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

A day of filming at Doc Ford's on Sanibel

On Wednesday, production moved to Doc Ford’s on Sanibel.

“We didn’t realize how much buzz it was going to create when we posted we were closing to film a movie,” said Joe Harrity, a partner in HM Restaurant Group, which owns four Doc Ford’s and Dixie Fish Co. “That post blew up.”

Shortly after closing at 2 p.m. Wednesday, the action began in Doc Ford’s upstairs Tarpon room.

“They started setting up by 2 or 2:30,” Harrity said. “There were upwards of 20 people working on it. The whole production was all very Hollywood.”

Filming took place from 4-8 p.m. said Harrity, whose family and staff got to be extras.

Unlike RC Otter’s which didn't cover any of its signs or logos, Doc Ford’s served as a setting.

“The movie had nothing to do with Doc Ford’s,” Harrity said. “It was literally a roof overhead. The restaurant is just a venue in the film. They covered up our logos. We were still happy to help.”

Even Doc Ford’s wildly popular signature Yucatan shrimp did not make an appearance.

“They had staged food for props,” he said.

Harrity didn’t know if it was a Hallmark movie either.

“The production team kept everything pretty tight to the vest,” he said.

Hallmark Channel, owned by Hallmark Cards Inc., is known for its feel-good original movies and annual programming events, including the beloved Countdown to Christmas.

“It could be Hallmark,” Harrity added. “We just don’t know. I honestly don’t know much about it. The idea of filming was just dropped on us a couple of weeks ago.”

He could only vaguely speculate about how the movie could maybe, eventually, hopefully land with a channel such as Hallmark.

Doc Ford’s and RC Otter’s weren’t the only island restaurants to participate, according to Harrity. MudBugs Cajun Kitchen was also used, he said.

Southwest Florida is no stranger to the movie industry. Numerous films have been shot here — beginning with “Wind Across the Everglades” in Chokoloskee in 1958 to George A. Romero’s 1985 classic “Day of the Dead” in Fort Myers to the early 2000s “Out of Time” and “Hoot” in Boca Grande and “Adaptation” in Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park.

Soon we can add Sanibel and Captiva to that list.

Funny Bone

Retarded Grandparents

Susan Capps

After summer vacation, a teacher asked her young pupils, how they spent their holiday away from school. One child wrote the following:

We always used to spend Summer with grandma and grandpa. They used to live in a big brick house, but grandpa got retarded and moved to Florida. They go to a building called a wrecked center, but they have got it fixed because it is all OK now, and do exercises there. There is a swimming pool, too, where they all jump up and down with hats on.

At their gate , there is a dollhouse with a little old man sitting in it. He watches all day nobody can escape. Sometimes they sneak out. They go, cruising in their golf carts. Nobody there cooks, they just eat out. And, they eat the same thing every night: early birds.

Some of the people can’t get out past the man in the dollhouse. The ones who do get out, bring food back to the wrecked center and call it potluck.

My grandma says grandpa worked all his life to earn his retarded, bent and says I should work hard too so I can be retarded someday too. When I earned my retardedment, I want to be the man in the doll house. Then I will let people out so they can visit their grandchildren.

Kindness Matters

Over the past decades our organization has reached out to its members, close friends, and family to acknowledge those who are facing the challenges of loss, illness, and other difficult circumstances, in an effort to extend messages of support. If you know of any members or their loved ones whose lives are affected by difficult circumstances, we would like to know. Please email [email protected] with the name of the person or family, along with their contact information and a general description of the type of challenge impacting their daily lives.

CALENDAR

Click the calendar below to see activities happening in January.

"Let our New Year's resolution be this: we will be there for one another

as fellow members of humanity, in the finest sense of the word."

Goran Persson