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Blog archive

October 2024

ARBORIST WALK: NOT FOR TREE HUGGERS ONLY!
10/29/2024

Bill Wishner: Visual Hunter
10/29/2024

Can a Village Group Fix Our Healthcare System?
10/29/2024

Community Board Directors Strengthen Village Board
10/29/2024

Connecting with Village Connections: The A, B, C, & D’s of Medicare @ 65+
10/29/2024

Grief is a Journey: Two Paths Taken
10/29/2024

Message from the President
10/29/2024

Promoting Informed & Involved Voters
10/29/2024

What Will Be Your Legacy?
10/29/2024

1619, Approaching the Election...
10/27/2024

Beyond and Within the Village - A Star is Born
10/17/2024

Happiness by Priscilla Leonard
10/11/2024

Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden
10/11/2024

Unpainted Door by Louise Gluck
10/11/2024

In the Evening by Billy Collins
10/10/2024

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver
10/10/2024

Betty Kilby, A Family History
10/01/2024

Betty Kilby, A Family History
10/01/2024

Betty Kilby, A Family History
10/01/2024

September 2024

August 2024

1619 Wide Ranging Interests
08/19/2024

1619 Wide Ranging Interests
08/19/2024

First Anniversary
08/19/2024

Alexandra Leaving by Leonard Cohen
08/16/2024

Muse des Beaux Arts by W. H. Auden
08/16/2024

The God Abandons Antony by Constantinos P. Cavafy
08/16/2024

Ch – Ch – Ch –Changes
08/15/2024

Cultural Activities Team offers an ‘embarrassment of riches’
08/15/2024

Engaging in Pasadena Village
08/15/2024

Future Housing Options
08/15/2024

Message from the President
08/15/2024

There Are Authors Among Us
08/15/2024

Villagers Welcome New Members at the Tournament Park Picnic
08/15/2024

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas
08/14/2024

A narrow Fellow in the Grass by Emily Dickinson
08/13/2024

Haikus
08/13/2024

One Art by Elizabeth Bishop
08/13/2024

Poem 20 by Pablo Neruda
08/13/2024

Still I Rise by Maya Angelou
08/13/2024

Trees by Joyce Kilmer
08/13/2024

July 2024

June 2024

May 2024

Emergency Preparedness: Are You Ready?
05/28/2024

Farewell from the 2023/24 Social Work Interns
05/28/2024

Gina on the Horizon
05/28/2024

Mark Your Calendars for the Healthy Aging Research California Virtual Summit
05/28/2024

Meet Our New Development Associate
05/28/2024

Putting the Strategic Plan into Practice
05/28/2024

Washington Park: Pasadena’s Rediscovered Gem
05/28/2024

Introducing Civil Rights Discussions
05/22/2024

Rumor of Humor #2416
05/14/2024

Rumor of Humor #2417
05/14/2024

Rumor of Humor #2417
05/14/2024

Rumor of Humor #2418
05/14/2024

Springtime Visitors
05/07/2024

Freezing for a Good Cause – Credit, That Is
05/02/2024

No Discussion Meeting on May 3rd
05/02/2024

An Apparently Normal Person Author Presentation and Book-signing
05/01/2024

Flintridge Center: Pasadena Village’s Neighbor That Changes Lives
05/01/2024

Pasadena Celebrates Older Americans Month 2024
05/01/2024

The 2024 Pasadena Village Volunteer Appreciation Lunch
05/01/2024

Woman of the Year: Katy Townsend
05/01/2024

April 2024

March 2024

February 2024

January 2024

Letter from the Incoming President: Beginning Our ‘Lagniappe’ Year

By Richard Myers
Posted: 06/17/2024
Tags: dick myers, board president

Warm greetings to all my fellow Villagers!

At the start of our new fiscal year and the installment of our new Board of Directors for the coming year, I would like to reflect on where we have been and where we're going.

There is no question that we have built a wonderful community in Pasadena Village. It enriches each of our lives and establishes an example for others of what can be done to alleviate many of the problems of our increasingly large aging population in this country.

As one of currently 270 U.S. Villages operating or starting up, we have a significant role to play.

We have built an organization that most of our new members tell us is one of the most welcoming, vibrant and diverse environments, with a real spirit of neighborliness, that they have ever encountered. And this happened during a rapid period of substantial growth, going from approximately 130 members to more than 200.

Our board has just completed a retreat where we celebrated our recent achievements and looked forward to what we need and want to do in the coming years. We also completed a self-evaluation of how we operated over the last year. These events revealed what a thoughtful and thorough team we have, with a real feeling of energy and anticipation for how we might be able to make improvements in the coming year.

As your new president, I want to declare this 2024–25 year to be the “lagniappe” year. Lagniappe is a word in common use in southern Louisiana, the state I come from. Originating in Quechua, the language of the Incas, it migrated into Spanish and then into the French-based Cajun language, and it means “a little bit more.” I first learned it as the little bit more that your hostess would add to a full plate when serving you at a party.

For us as Villagers, we should each think about what “little bit more” we can contribute to the operations of the Village. When everyone contributes just a little bit more than what is expected, it creates and maintains an exceptional community, and that is what we want to continue doing. We are exceptional because so many people have given so much of their lives to making it so. I’ve thought many times that the best thing you can do in life is to do something good for someone else, which in turn is a reward to yourself.

Our responsibility as Villagers is to continue that tradition, to make this community available to others in this area where we live, and to serve as an example to others who are just beginning this journey.

We will face many challenges this year but with the energy and commitment of the board and the contribution of the efforts of all the members of our community, we will overcome those challenges and bequeath an improved Pasadena Village to our successors in following years. I am looking forward with enthusiasm to being part of this effort and anticipate a great year.

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