YOUR APRIL ISSUE OF SENIORS ALIVE!

Here is your April issue of the GHSS newsletter, Seniors Alive!

(BACK ISSUES AVAILABE AT THE TAB ABOVE).

The next Senior Luncheon will take place on APRIL 14th at noon at Hillsborough's United Methodist Church, 16 Henniker St. On the menu will be baked ham with marmalade brown sugar and 5 spices, twice baked mashed potatoes, coleslaw and pineapple bread pudding for dessert. All for only $5.00.

Because parking at the church is limited, the GHSS be making pickups at Shaw's at 11:30 and 11:45.

Reserve your place by calling Marie Merrow before April 8th at 603 464 3067. YOU MUST RESERVE.

 

GHSS Traipsin' Around in April and May

Call Marie Mogavero at 603 464 4726 to reserve your place (minimum numbers of participants are required)

April 12, Tuesday: Tanger Outlets. Departing Shaw's parking lot at 9:30 am. There will be brunch/lunch at Tilton Diner. The fee is $7.50 (min. 7)

April 21, Thursday: Treasure Hunter's Trip.  Betsy the bus will be heading south and hitting Family Outfitters, Savers, Goodwill and others. Leaving Shaw's parking lot at 9:30 am. The  fee is $7.50. (min. 6)

May 11, Wednesday: Brimfield Antiques and Collectibles Show. Departing Shaw's parking lot at 9:30 am. The fee is $9.00. COMFY SHOES A REQUIREMENT (min. 8)

 

 

 

HEADING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

At the March 8th Hillsborough town meeting, residents of Hillsborough voted against the recommendation of the Hillsborough Board of Selectmen to approve warrant article 26. This article was petitioned by GHSS and grants to the organization $8000 "for the purpose of providing support for services for senior citizens to be provided by the Greater Hillsborough Senior Services through the Hillsborough Area Community Service Corporation," 

The effect of this vote is to allow GHSS to control the funds that were voted for it by town meeting.  Now Hillsborough joins Deering and other communities in devoting money for senior services that has no strings attached. The $8000 contribution by the town of Hillsborough to GHSS will be handled through the 501c3 (non profit) Hillsborough Area Community Service Corporation (tax-deductible contributions welcome!).

Residents attending the meeting spoke in praise of the services provided only by GHSS. The comments generally noted the importance to seniors of the social interactions provided by GHSS in the monthly lunches it provides and in the shopping and touristic trips it organizes.

The vote to approve the warrant article passed with only two 'nay' votes. Certainly this near unanimous vote by the town meeting is a strong endorsement of GHSS as it provides services for seniors in the Greater Hillsborough area. The vote was gleefully welcomed by GHSS president, Ms Path Mathison, the GHSS Board of Directors, and the many volunteers who make GHSS run so smoothly.

THREE HUNDRED YEARS OF SILLY SHOES UNDER ONE ROOF

Each day brings the chance for you  to win the Silly Shoe Award for the day. And you will never know that you won!

Flats or heels, pumps or wedges, sneakers or boots from PayLess or Nordstrom; designed by Prada, Alexander McQueen, Jean Paul Gaultier, Miu Miu, Christian Louboutin, Ferragamo, or Manolo Blahnic. They're all in the running for the daily Silly Shoe Award. Do you ever watch the TV show Sherlock? Sherlock's Watson, played by Lucy Liu, often wears winners of this contest.

The Silly Shoe Award was first given to a woman in New York City sometime in the summer of 1986. What was she thinking when she bought those shoes? How on earth can she walk in them? How did she ever expect to be able to dodge traffic on 8th Avenue in those shoes? What is her message with this footwear? There was no other way to explain them: those shoes were just plain silly. On that day the first Silly Shoe Award was given! 

The award was spontaneous, unavoidable really. Those shoes were real prizes. Of course I did not stop her and let her know of her good luck in having worn those particular shoes at that spot and moment. I just smiled and continued on my way, completely forgetting within minutes the particulars of that footwear. But not forgetting the fact that, for that day, I'd seen the absolutely silliest shoes in all of New York City and had dully awarded them. No runners up. No regrets: they HAD to be the silliest shoes I'd seen. That day. But, each day  brings new possibilities.

As they say, the rest is history. The sort-of daily Silly Shoe Award has been given in many cities in many countries in the past thirty years. Just not every day. Living for a year in Putney Vermont revealed only Birkenstocks. No matter how culturally silly these shoes are, they'll never win a Silly Shoe Award. Similarly, living here in New Hampshire, not so far geographically from Putney, women hiking boots and winter paks in Shaw's parking lot for survival. That's not silly! No Silly Shoe Awards  here. Maybe on Elm St in Manchester I'll find the next awardee? I doubt it....

Imagine my delight when  I heard that an exhibit called THREE HUNDRED YEARS OF KILLER HEELS had been mounted in Manchester's Currier Museum of Art. OH! How high heels lend themselves to silliness! About 150 exhibits, 300 years of fabulous footwear, revealing high heels as both stunning architectural creations and works of art in their own right. This must be the Silly Shoe Hall of Fame. I can 't wait to go!

GHSS IS GOING TO THE Currier Museum in Manchester: Killer Heels: The Art of the High-Heeled Shoe on March 30!

The GHSS bus (aka Betsy) will be going there on 30 March, leaving Shaw's parking lot at 1:00 pm. 

The cost of the ride in Betsy is $6.00. Call Marie at 464-4726 to reserve your seat.

Admission to the museum (seniors, 65+: $10.00) and the exhibit ($8.00) totals $18.00 (members free). 

It is worth noting that an individual membership to the Currier Museum of Art costs $50.00 -- $45.00 for seniors 65+ -- which is 100% tax deductible. There are also family memberships. Check out the Currier Museum of Art web site for details).  

SENIORS ALIVE! MARCH 2016

Here is your March issue of Seniors Alive!, the GHSS newsletter. Get all the Hot News for seniors here!

I want to call your attention to a great opportunity to see the current exhibit at the Currier Museum in Manchester: Killer Heels: The Art of the High-Heeled Shoe.  The GHSS bus (aka Betsy) will be going there on 30 March, leaving Shaw's parking lot at 1:00 pm. The cost of the ride in Betsy is $6.00. Admission to the museum (seniors, 65+: $10.00) and the exhibit ($8.00) totals $18.00 (members free. It is worth noting that an individual membership costs $50.00 -- $45.00 for seniors 65+ -- which is 100% tax deductible. There are also family memberships. Check out the Currier Museum of Art web site for details).  

And, who isn't Irish in March? Corned beef and cabbage will be the order of the day at the GHSS St Patrick's Day luncheon at Hillsborough's Masonic lodge on Gaye Ave on 17 March at noon for only $5.00.

OF WELLS, WATER AND GHSS

In their infinite wisdom the Hillsborough budget for 2016 pretty much cuts Greater Hillsborough Senior Services off. The rational is that funding for Hillsborough Senior Advisory Committee (SAC) covers GHSS expenses. Yes, SAC does cover some (not nearly all) of the expenses for the GHSS newsletter (in which SAC has DEMANDED one full page free 'advertisement' for each issue) and SAC pays the monthly $100 charge for use of St Mary's church hall (a hall that is no longer available to anybody because of structural problems).  But to say that SAC covers all the many services provided to Hillsborough seniors is way beyond disingenuous.  To begin with, tiny Deering (pop 1800) GIVES -- as in, no strings attached -- to GHSS at least $2000 (the town BOS has recommended upping that to $3000 for 2016 in a warrant article).

What does SAC do? Well, as far as I can see SAC itself only organizes a few bus trips to admittedly interesting places. Thanks for that.

Pat Mathison, GHSS president, published a letter in the Villager and Messenger newspapers on 4 March outlining the many benefits of GHSS to area seniors. What she did not say (for reasons I cannot understand) is the reason for the letter: the shameful failure of Hillsborough  BOS to recommend funding for GHSS in 2016.


So, what DOES GHSS do for Hillsborough senior citizens?  Following is a summary taken from 2015. 

I sincerely hope that the two or three people who actually read this blog will be pretty darned upset and encourage their fellow Hillsborough residents to ATTEND TOWN MEETING AND SUPPORT ART. 27. TOWN MEETING IN HILLSBOROUGH IS TUESDAY, 8 MARCH beginning at 7:00 pm

You know the saying about wells and water: you're not going to miss the latter until the former runs dry! SUPPORT GHSS, Hillsborough's senior source!

Greater Hillsborough Senior Services in 2015

35% of the Hillsborough population is over 65

An increase of 14% in participation at GHSS activities/events, 1800 seniors have used the services

Volunteer Driver Program  handled 452 trips, accumulating 9200 miles driven and 576 volunteer hours

Maple Leaf trips (24 a year) were handled by seniors volunteer drivers, saving $2400 from the Youth Service budget

15 monthly senior luncheons were offered, food expenses were covered by luncheon fees. 

 GHSS supported senior tai chi classes held in Deering Town Hall.

A bus was purchased in June. Its purchase was supported by many donations, most notably from Shaw's and Osram. No funds from the town of Hillsborough were used to purchase the GHSS bus. The bus has become a community resource, serving the residents of the town of Hillsborough in ways that the town itself cannot. However, the expense of maintaining the bus is borne by GHSS. (anybody have an idea where we can park our bus, which currently sits at the back of Wyman's lot?)

The bus went into immediate service. Here's what we did:

- 55 trips were offered to seniors (excluding the Maple Leaf trips)

- the number ofg seniors enjoying trips doubled from previous years

- the "community" bus was used to support the Living History event, a Youth Service trip to the Verizon for the circus, and United Methodist Church to a  choral event and potluck supper.

Volunteer hours by seniors accounted for 2200 hours of service:

- created and distributed 140 holiday plates for the Lions Holiday baskets

- aided a senior in knotting and preparing quilts for distribution Concord Hospital

          - prepared congregate meals 15 times in the year

          - drove 576 hours to get seniors to appointments

          - newsletter functions and publicity

SOME CONFUSION: GHSS NEEDS YOU!

Hello Folks:  I've been reminded that there is confusion about the senior programs within the town of Hillsborough. I am going to try to clarify and explain the various groups that are offered/managed for "seasoned adults."

Senior Affairs is a town of Hillsborough entity overseen by the selectpersons and handled by Dana Brien.  Senior outings fall within her responsibilities (these are the motor coach trips) sanctioned by the town with funding as part of the town budget.  Under the aforementioned Hillsboro Board of Selectmen a Senior Advisory Committee is a group of individuals appointed to oversee and manage the funds, approved by a warrant article at 2015 town meeting.

Greater Hillsboro Senior Services is a 501 c 3 non-profit created by seniors for seniors. A wide variety of events, activities, and trips are offered to seniors in the Greater Hillsboro area. The group raised funds and purchased a 14 passenger bus, insured it, and offer a wide range of very affordable trips both local and long distance.  The other offerings are craft programs, exercise classes, congregate meals, information and entertainment programs, and a quasi-dial-a- ride program, all supported by a large volume of volunteer hours.

We would appreciate your support for Article #27 at the Hillsboro Town Meeting on Tuesday, March 8, 2016.

If you have further questions, please call Chuck Gaides at 464-3727 or Pat Mathison 464-5029.

APPEAL TO THE VOTERS OF HILLSBOROUGH

Appeal to the Voters of Hillsborough

 

The Greater Hillsborough Senior Services is a non-profit organization staffed by a large group of volunteers interested in providing support, services, opportunities to socialize and advocacy for the senior citizens in our area.   Seniors make up over 35% of our population with an increase of 14% participation in 2015 in GHSS activities.  Most of our Town dollars goes to supporting the schools, town services i.e. police, fire and rescue, maintenance, youth programs for the parks/recreation with little if any for seniors. 

Hillsborough has been unable to address a number of senior issues currently being offered by Greater Hillsborough Senior Services.  There are limitations as to what the Town can fully offer because of constraints on the Town government, lack of facilities to host events, lack of public transportation, lack of man power and more.  GHSS has stepped in, thus providing a host of opportunities which previously were not available.

List of specific examples we do that the Town does not provide are:

Monthly Luncheons, Cultural/sporting/Shopping excursions, Crafting, Weekly games/cards, group exercise opportunities, information sessions/meetings, a monthly newsletter, support groups and most importantly the Volunteer Driver Program which is staffed by GHSS members.

Since  GHSS purchased a bus in 2015, we have expanded our offerings to our community at large: taking Maple Leaf residents shopping, saving $2400 using senior volunteers as drivers, working with the Chamber of Commerce to provide transportation for the Living History event, loaning the bus to the Girl Scouts, the United Methodist church, Farmstead, and other town organizations for various trips.  If the Town owned such a bus, many of the aforementioned trips could not be provided due to legal and financial constraints.

We have begun to address some of the needs of our seniors in our area, but we still have a long way to go.  For these reasons, we request that the voters of Hillsborough approved Warrant Article 26 so that we can continue to offer and provide many needed senior activities and services.