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our newsletter
Welcome to our Newsletter May 2021
Our quarterly newsletter is a means for us to provide information, resources, opportunities, and share the joyous experiences that we offer our members!
As founders of virtual Gatherings, it is important for us to continually create innovative and evidence-based strategies that stimulate our members on a holistic level.
Co-Founder Susan Shields recently attained certification as a Let Your Yoga Dance teacher® and will engage the members with new gentle and fun movements along with their favorite tunes!
ACTIVITY HIGHLIGHTS
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAMMY!! We celebrated our charming, graceful, and poised Tammy with a group birthday sing along and showed pictures her family sent that highlighted her career days and beautiful fashion style. We then showed a recording of Tammy’s incredible Salsa dance moves with an instructor who looked like he was actually taking lessons from her!! We ended with Tammy leading us in a group Salsa movement to one of her favorite artists, Tito Puente!
We honored the women members, our ‘virtual Gatherings Gems’, with a Mother’s Day celebration. They were serenaded with a poem written just for them and they shared touching photos from their past. Families ‘zoomed in’ to share loving motherhood moments and their spouses danced with them to their favorite songs as we cheered and even shed tears of joy for them!
As we continually celebrate and reminisce about our members’ lives, we engaged them in a Hat History Day! All the members wore hats from recent times or years ago from their careers or familial experiences. They shared stories and asked each other questions. The poses, laughter, and conversation were enjoyed by all!
Asian Pacific Islander American Heritage Month was an opportunity for the group to watch a video and some took turns reading about the notable contributions Asians and Pacific Islander Americans have made to this country. We reflected with words of hope that the Anti-Asian racism and violence will end.
OPPORTUNITIES
- We have openings for Tuesdays and Wednesdays group sessions and we’re excited to now offer additional sessions at a later time! Individualized sessions are also available.
- We welcome all families to join our biweekly support group, which is exclusively for virtual Gatherings families
- Do you know anyone in your circles who would benefit from our program? If your referral enrolls, you will receive a complimentary session!
SEEKING VOLUNTEERS
We are looking for volunteers with education and experience working with those who live with memory loss. Please circulate to anyone who may be interested. They can find more info here: https://virtual-gatherings.com/volunteer
CAREGIVER TIP
Mindfulness Moment: Do One Thing at a Time
We often try to prioritize tasks by handling them as they come in, even if it means starting a new task while five others are already in the works.
Even though it may seem easier to reply “Yes.” to that text then to finish the draft of the email you’re working on, switching between tasks takes up more time and makes you more prone to errors than doing one thing at https://www.apa.org/research/action/multitask
That’s why a huge component of mindfulness is doing just one thing at a time, it is a practice of giving all of your attention and awareness to the task at hand. https://www.centerforresilience.org/5-ways-to-practice-mindfulness-right-now
GRATITUDE
We love and thank our members for bringing joy and fun to virtual Gatherings!!
We would also like to thank all the virtual Gatherings families of our members for their participation, encouraging testimonials, and continued support.
Special thanks to families:
- Eileen provides such interesting NYT articles for Paul to read aloud
- Gerry keeps us politically informed with his Gerrymandering blog
- Susan F. shares fun and engaging video clips and she referred our newest member, Carlos, to our group
Please reach out to us for more information, ask questions, give suggestions and feedback. We always appreciate hearing from you.
With gratitude,
Susan & Mary Ellen
virtual Gatherings LLC
(800)-670-2563