Northeast Village PDX is a community led by older adults sharing their skills and expertise and supporting each other to balance the challenges and opportunities of aging. We believe a better experience of aging is possible when we engage with and rely on each other. Every day, our members and volunteers come together to provide support services and create new possibilities for our future.
In This Issue:

July-August 2020


We're in the Star News!
The Hollywood Star News is publishing an article on NE Village, contributed by our own Pat Vivian. 

It will be in print in July and is now available by clicking the following link:   NE Village PDX lends hand to seniors coping with COVID-19.

Governing Council Elections in September
Governing Council Elections will take place at our next virtual general meeting, September 9, at 4 pm. If you would like a voice in decisions about how NE Village PDX engages in our community and serves Village members, this is your chance!
 
Currently our Governing Council has 13 members, as well as a liaison from the Villages Northwest Board. Our bylaws stipulate a GovCo of up to 16 members. Since four of our current members are completing their terms in September, we can accommodate up to seven new members. 

We hope to emerge from this difficult time of a pandemic with a renewed commitment to our Village as a reciprocal community, engaged and supportive. The ideas and experiences of new members on GovCo will help make this a reality.
 
What is GovCo and what does it do?
  • The purpose of GovCo is to manage NE Village PDX by making general operating and policy decisions that guide Village programming and service delivery.
  • GovCo members are elected at the Village general meeting held in September.
  • Anyone can serve on GovCo; it's not necessary to be a Village member.
  • Term of office is two years, but GovCo members may be re-elected for an additional two terms.
  • GovCo meetings are open to anyone who would like to attend. (Currently, this is via Zoom.)
  • GovCo meeting dates, agendas, and minutes are all posted on the Village website for members. 
If you'd like to stand for election to GovCo this September, please contact Jane Braunger, GovCo co-chair, at    janebraunger@gmail.com by August 21. 

Members will receive the slate of candidates with their profiles in advance of the September 9 general meeting.   Members should register on the calendar for the general meeting which will be held on Zoom; you must be present (well, virtually) to vote in the election.
Share Your Talents!
As you know, our Village is volunteer-powered. Even now, with constraints necessitated by COVID-19, volunteers are providing appropriate services to members. And our committees continue as essential infrastructure for the Village.  Two of our committees could use some new volunteers. 

If you have some experience in identifying funding sources or in grant writing, our Development Committee would love to have you join them. 

Our Communications, Marketing, and Outreach Committee has several needs for willing volunteers. If you like to write, the newsletter has a spot for you. Are you a proofreader? They'll sign you up. Are you a Facebook or other social media user? We're looking for someone to moderate our social media presence. 

If any of these Village involvements appeal to you, please contact the NEV Office, 503-895-2750 or info@nevillagepdx.org
Don't you wish you had a book group too?
NEV's first Book Group is still going strong -- and it's full as we've said here before. On the afternoon of August 10 they'll discuss the 2020 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys. (Of course, meetings are currently held via Zoom rather than in person.) 

Ann Anderson has offered to facilitate a Zoom meeting of people interested in forming a second book group. She will contact people who have already notified the office of their interest.  If you'd like to be added to the group, contact Ann at annpetera@comcast.net.  She'll schedule the meeting to accommodate all, and everyone will get the Zoom link by signing up on the calendar on the website.

At the Zoom meeting Ann will share processes that the current book group uses to decide on books, schedule meetings and facilitate discussions.  The goal is to provide help in getting started, with a clear understanding that the new group will decide on approaches that work for them. A member of the new book group will volunteer to be coordinator.
Calendar of Events
NE Village Conducts First Virtual Meeting for Entire Community
About 40 people attended our first "all-Village" virtual meeting on June 18, requiring two Zoom screens to show us all. The purpose was to re-connect, engage, learn about the state of our Village, and engage in "breakout" conversations in smaller groups.
 
After logging in and getting set up for the Zoom meeting, Vonnie Condon conducted an "ice-breaking" session, asking what people had been doing during the "stay in place" mandate, and sharing examples of new or unusual things they were now doing.
 
Following that was a "State of the Village" presentation by co-chair Jane Braunger, and a quick look at our new website. For the record, our Village is stable, enduring, utilizing various ways for our community to stay in touch with one another, and looking ahead as we evolve through the "waves" that we are now encountering from the virus, racial justice movement, economic uncertainties, and both national and local political challenges.
 
The group divided into eight breakout sessions, with a moderator for each who facilitated the conversations with key questions. These 25-minute sessions gave time for each group to come up with several key issues, which will shortly be consolidated and presented to our community.
 
This was a fine experiment to see how a large community could gather together. 
Member Spotlight: Jean Robinson
Jean Robinson has been a member of Northeast Village since Day One, and she and others call her a "heavy user" -- of our Village services. Volunteers have helped her with the heaviest indoor housework, and with her laundry and yard work; they've joined her on walks up to five days a week.
 
But what's that like now? Since the Village has been physically distancing, she walks just as much, alongside the volunteer down the middle of the quiet Alameda streets, wearing masks and gloves. Yard work is done just as well. Since she lives alone, now-solo housework has taken some creative adjustments, occasionally helped by a tenant on her property, so she's looking forward to in-home services when they become possible again.
 
What hasn't changed is that "community" is personal to Jean. In-home volunteers and regular walking companions become friends to socialize and regularly check in with; it's done remotely now instead of going out to lunch. Central to her life are several groups she has been meeting with for years before the Village (and some now including our Villagers): a movie group, a book group of 30 years, and her painting group.
 
Jean has been in Oregon since she was 12. She attended Grant High School and later taught business and accounting at Jefferson High and other schools. She's raised three  children here.
 
She first heard of Susan Roberts' work to start a Village in Portland before NEV opened. She volunteered for the early Services Committee. She has attended our "Village 101" informational meetings to describe to the public what membership is like. Plus, she spreads the word of Villages everywhere there are people who haven't heard, and she's encouraging all of us to spread the word too. Completing the circle over time, she's started to volunteer on NEV's Governing Council board -- well qualified to represent the perspective of members.
 
So I call her a "member extraordinaire" (plus "volunteer"), and as she calls our volunteers, "You are all fabulous!"
 
-- Jeanne Bear
Review of Food as Medicine Class
Julie Granger has been attending our four-class Zoom series "Food as Medicine: Nutrition in Our New Normal," and here's what she's found so far: 
  • Do you know what foods help to reduce inflammation?
  • Are you aware of the change in nutrient needs of your body especially as you age?
  • How about the amount of protein you need daily at age 70+? 
These are some of the things the participants of the "Food as Medicine" Zoom class just offered by the Village have been learning. Erin Fredericks, the class instructor, spent nearly two decades in food and healthcare publishing for big brands like Martha Stewart, Bon Appetit, Rachael Ray, and WebMD, before moving to Portland to receive her master's degree in nutrition.

The class is filled with relevant, science-based information about our bodies as we age. The information is well researched, and members have appreciated the review of the body's physiology and anatomy and which foods and nutrient categories have the greatest benefit to healthy aging. 

The class tackled the topics of gut/digestive health, reducing inflammation, and bolstering our immune system. Each week Erin also shared recipes using the food types she has talked about, to help start us on our journey in the kitchen to incorporate into our diets the healing foods that will enhance our well being. 

The class included an initial survey of our interest in taking the class and the outcomes we hoped for, a weekly survey with an opportunity for additional questions to be addressed, and a one-on-one conversation with Erin.
 
Here are some of things we learned in response to the questions posed above.
  • Foods that help reduce inflammation: salmon, tuna, flax, walnuts, and avocado, to name a few.
     
  • To get the nutrients you need, eat the rainbow of fruits and vegetables.
     
  • To calculate your daily protein requirement: 
    • Your body weight divided by 2.2 is your body weight in kilograms.
    • You need 1 to 1.2 grams per kilogram of body weight per day.
Article Submission Dates
Bimonthly Newsletter - September-October
August 15, 2020
Submit to:   jeanne.bear@gmail.com

Village Boundaries
Northeast Village PDX is a member of the Villages NW tax-exempt network.

For more information, contact:

Northeast Village PDX
503-895-2750

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