Sleet and snow did affect the turnout at our Christmas party, held at the Moose Lodge. Only twenty-four persons came. This is consid-erably fewer than the previous year’s attendance, but every one enjoyed both the fellowship and the food.
Our yearly (short) business meeting took place; then door prizes were given out. We collected non-perishable food items for the Crisis Center food bank. About one hundred pounds of items were delivered to the Center the next day.
Our group had already contributed $150 to the Crisis Center food bank, and another $150 to Hospice of Iowa City.
We recently lost two longtime members: Jeris Kaalberg in January and Genevieve Earle in February. Jeri was the last operator to work at the Iowa City switchboard just as the board was closed down on March 31, 1981, ending a century of operator services in the city. She was the only operator at the board that final day. Gen was a volunteer at UIHC; she gave hundreds of hours of service there and really enhanced our volunteer hours report. Both members will be greatly missed.
Our Pioneer group continues to meet for 11:30 a m luncheons on the third Tuesday of each month, except December. In January we met at Midtown and in February we met at Boston’s. The rest of the year’s sched- ule is as follows: March, Perkins (Crlvle); April, Old Country Buffet (Crlvle); May, The Vine Tavern & Eatery (Crlvle); June, Midtown #2; July, Hills Bar & Grill (Hills); August, Rugger’s (N Lib); September, Okoboji Grill; October, Lone Star Steak-house & Saloon (Crlvle); November, Blackstone’s; December, the Moose Lodge, date to be determined later, social hour will begin at 5:30 p m and buffet service will start at 6:30 p m.
Former Operators group meets for lunch the first Wednesday of each month; locations vary. Usually about a dozen persons attend. Call Stella at 319-351-1639 for information about the meetings and locations. The men’s group meets for breakfast every Thursday morning at 7:30 a m at the Midtown restaurant. Attend- ance ranges from ten to seventeen.
Please notify our fellowship chair at 319-351-1639 if any member or partner is ill at home or in the hospital. Stella will send out cards as appropriate.
Congratulations to Martha Gegenheimer, our oldest member, who celebrated her 96th birthday this February 22nd!
Although our group is mostly for social purposes, many of our people are still actively volunteering. If you are doing volunteer work, we would like to hear from you so that your hours can be reported.
Dorothy Dayton
Council Representative
