Pasadena Village has been looking into the future and seeing a changing and challenging environment. In preparation to meet these new challenges, the Village prepared a Strategic Plan. The plan called for membership growth as one of the important activities needed to meet the challenges. This meant having a good understanding of what the Village provides to its membership and communicating why anyone should join. Members have been surveyed and asked to tell us why they joined and what they believed were the benefits of being members. Here are some of the things that they sent:

· Joining the Village is one of the best decisions I have ever made

· [The Village] will broaden your horizons and bring you joy no matter where you are on your "journey"

· The Village provides a map with many options to dealing with retirement, staying connected, continuing to be involved in meaningful activity, and effectively dealing with aging. I recommend getting involved well before the "need" to be involved becomes a reality. Early involvement provides more support in identifying resources and effectively planning for a future as an older adult. Support of peers is the greatest asset of the Village.

· It's a caring community and provides motivation to keep going!

· It is a good place to meet people and have community plus resources in your life.

· ...there are many very nice people who have my back.

· A great way to stay healthy, happy, connected to others, intellectually stimulated, and have many opportunities for fun social activities

· Join for the comradeship and for help with transportation

· We are all getting older and we owe it to ourselves and our children to be prepared to cope with the inevitable changes. Also - you may think you have a lot of friends, but at the Village you will make very strong friendships that will stand you in good stead.

· Join! You will be enriched by it.

How do we provide such a great experience?

For one thing, we have offerings. We have active groups who walk together or play ping pong. We have educational offerings and cultural offerings where people learn about how to deal with the multiple challenges they face or explore their interests in using literature, theater, or other arts. We have discussion groups that explore social issues, such as race, new developments in science, and deeper philosophical issues of spirituality or personal growth. In addition, and very importantly, we encourage and support members who initiate new groups to explore their own interests such as we all have but have not had time to explore in previous busy lives. The very diversity of our membership provides insights into different experiences of the world that we may not have encountered previously, expanding our understanding of the complex world that we occupy.

Encouraged by this positive feedback about what we have accomplished, we approached the future with confidence as we continue to improve our offerings and extend our reach into new arenas. It is our firm belief that we are offering good values and support in addressing the needs of a growing, aging population.

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