March 2025

February 2025

January 2025

Message from the Executive Director: The FUTURE

As we look forward to where Pasadena Village is headed, I hope you all can be proud of the strong foundation we have built to get to where we are today. Almost a year ago, we started to plan our roadmap for the future direction of the organization and I want to thank all of those who have been involved in the in-depth strategic planning process. 

Members are our greatest assets. New members increase our community connections, pool of volunteers and leaders, and bring their diverse backgrounds and experiences. 

We know the village model works in Pasadena and we can help more older adults age gracefully together. More older adults can benefit from joining the Village and what we need is to continue to add new members to achieve our vision to help adults thrive through new friends, meaningful experiences, and involvement in our wider community.

As Pat shared, we have seen incredibly generous funding from individuals, foundations, and businesses this year. We anticipate exceeding our budgeted surplus this year when we will close the books at the end of June. We will share financial highlights in the Annual Report emailed to everyone in July, but at this moment, we anticipate a surplus of about $100,000 this year. Thank you to all of you who contributed to our Matching Gift Challenge and made and directed support to Pasadena Village to get us here! 

We expect the total income to come in over $300,000 and expenses are anticipated at about $210,000. This strong financial position will be instrumental in the launch of our Strategic Plan with the hiring of a new position - a part time Volunteer Coordinator, and increased programming and community outreach.

What I am asking you today, is to support us in implementation of the Strategic Plan, especially in our ambitious goal to reach 200 members by summer 2025. Most members join because they know or get to know a current member. 

Please share information about our upcoming community events that are free and open to the public. Invite one or more to your friends and neighbors and ask them to join you at an event so they can get a sense of the community you have helped to build. Our planning committees and members offer 3-5 community events every month and they are always listed on our website and social media. 

The Annual Meeting was the launch of our 10th anniversary celebrations. The next two are an Anniversary Party on Thursday, October 6 at the Shakespeare Club and a month-long Open House. This Open Calendar of events will be circulated at the end of the summer so we can invite our whole community to experience the breadth of offerings throughout the month of October - from ping pong to Spirit talk, Urban Walkers to educational programs. We will be working with all of our neighborhood group and Affinity Group leaders to create an enticing calendar of offerings and hope you will start thinking now of individuals who need to be invited to see what they are missing. 

Thank you to Mike Babcock for securing the beautiful venue, Sue, Wayne, Linda, and Fritzie for planning this event and all of our volunteers for your dedication and work. Thank you also to our Program Manager Belinda Vidaurri for all she does to keep the growing calendar updated and the operations running smoothly.