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TTN Members Carole Wehberg and Susan Martin were the guest speakers at the August summer dinner celebration.
MILESTONE BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION – TTN’S PRIDE OF AGE EVENING
The New York City chapter continued its tradition of holding a “milestone” birthday dinner, inviting participants to celebrate their significant birthdays – and share their age with the assembled group.
Two members – Susan Martin (65) and Carole Wehberg (60) shared their thoughts on the joys…and oddities…of getting older - and a dozen members stepped forward to announce milestones, from age 55 to 75. One member commented: “I haven’t told anyone my age in 30 years – certainly not in public! It feels great to have people who’ve been there cheer and congratulate me on turning 65.”
TTN members in New York City enjoy August’s 7th Annual Summer Dinner and Milestone Birthday celebration at Josefina’s. L to R Top Row: Elizabeth Hansen, Linda Sicher, Ellen Wright, and Lee Rodriguez.
L to R Seated: Janice Taylor, Linda Segal, Victoria Norris and Vivian Grams. (photo by Ellen Wright)
COMING SOON – NYC’S TTN CARING COLLABORATIVE: SERVICE CORPS AND TIMEBANK
TTN is on track for a mid-September launch of its Caring Collaborative Time Bank in NYC. The various subcommittees have been busy this summer piloting the program and it’s exciting to see the concept come to life! Join the Caring Collaborative and if you need someone to pick you up from a doctor’s appointment, we will be there! If you sprained your ankle and need a comforting bowl of chicken noodle soup – TTN is there, just like mother. We are confident that the Caring Collaborative will be a key resource for members as they try to cope with a challenging health problem. Joining the Caring Collaborative is easy. All you have to do is complete an on-line questionnaire on who you are and what services you are willing to provide. This will be followed by an orientation with guidelines for the service and information exchange. The on-line questionnaire is being distributed via Survey Monkey. NYC members can expect to see a link to the survey in their e-mail boxes in mid-September. Orientation will follow in October – we’re finalizing dates so stay tuned for more information. Here are some just some of the services and information exchanges being offered through the Caring Collaborative Time Bank: Service Corps: • Companionship – home and telephone • Meal delivery and sharing • Escorts to and from medical appointments and/or the hospital • Note taking at medical appointments • Pet walking • Help setting up e-mail and phones Information Exchange: • Referrals to more than 50 health care professionals and alternative care providers! And more on the way. • Medical equipment and devices • Access to personal health experiences shared by members; categories include cancer, cardiovascular diseases, orthopedics, sleep disorders, mental health and neurological diseases. In addition, members can access resources to support their well being and quality of life through a series of links to web-based organizations that will be uploaded to the Caring Collaborative section of the TTN website. The Web Resources subcommittee has done a phenomenal job in collecting and vetting these resources and they will be a welcome resource for all our members. We’re on our way to the official launch of the TTN Caring Collaborative Time Bank and look forward to your participation. Be on the look out for more information from TTN as the month progresses! SAVE THE DATE. . .Friday, November 7th, for United Hospital Fund’s conference “Building Communities of Volunteers: How to Make the Generation Gap Work for You.” TTN is co-sponsoring this conference on engaging younger volunteers with non-profits and will be presenting. The event will take place at the UJA Federation in mid-town Manhattan. More details to follow in upcoming newsletters.  NATIONAL WEB BROADCAST ON SMART WOMEN DON’T RETIRE – THEY BREAK FREE – PLEASE DIAL IN!You're invited - to a national Web broadcast on Smart Women Don't Retire - They Break Free and The Transition Network. MaturityWorks Alliance, a special leadership group of the National Council on Aging which focuses on mature workers and the aging workforce, will present an online seminar featuring The Transition Network and Smart Women Don't Retire - They Break Free on Monday, September 25, 1:00 to 2:30 PM ET. How are today's retirement age women exploring new options? And what skills and resources are they using to move in new directions? Christine Millen, co-founder and President of The Transition Network, and Gail Rentsch, author of Smart Women Don't Retire – They Break Free will share their thoughts and the experience of TTN members. Today's boomer woman entered the workforce determined to build her career and gain valuable skills; now she is asking herself the question, "what's next?" How and why are such vital women thinking about and approaching retirement in ways different from their mothers, and from men? What are they doing, and what can women approaching retirement age learn from them? Christine and Gail will discuss how today's retirement-age women are exploring new options, talk about the skills and resources they are using to move in exciting new directions. Participants will learn: * Special concerns of baby boomer women as they transition from their first careers * Ways to help women manage their transition * Why transition takes time and why it is important to "cut yourself some slack" * Types of "what's-next" options women are exploring * Changes in friendships and family relationships during this period...including "why is my spouse driving me crazy?" Take advantage of this unique opportunity to be part of a TTN event in the comfort of your home - and tell a friend! This program is one in a series of MaturityWorks Alliance offerings. Bookmark their website to learn about other programs in the series. To register: Check back here soon for details as NCOA posts them. 
SMART WOMEN DON’T RETIRE – THEY BREAK FREE: MORE MEDIA AND WEB COVERAGE
Smart Women Don't Retire - They Break Free continues to be profiled on media and blog websites as summer winds down.
Here's a listing of recent articles and blogs featuring The Transition Network and our book:
US News & World Report: 6 Tips on Planning a Second Career
Retirement as You Want It blog – on Thursday, August 21st: Smart Women Don’t Retire – They Break Free
Marjorie Palimpsests blog – on Tuesday, August 19th: A Happy Energizer Bunny
and more (keep checking back on our website)!
The National Council on Aging’s MaturityWorks Alliance is sponsoring a webinar on September 25th on Smart Women Don’t Retire – They Break Free. See the newsletter article above for more details on this national event we invite you all to “attend”!
FALL EVENTS FEATURING TTN AND SMART WOMEN DON’T RETIRE
TTN members are continuing to line up programs to tell women about Smart Women Don't Retire - They Break Free and TTN. We encourage you to come and bring a friend – or tell your friends who live in other cities.
* Saturday September 27 event at the Mid-Town (40th Street) NY Public Library in NYC – a resource fair for people over 50
* Tuesday October 7 and Thursday October 23 Philadelphia PA events featuring TTN – our 3 hour transition workshop on October 7 and peer group formation on October 23
Tuesday October 14 (evening) program presented by the Career Resource team at the NY Science, Industry and Business Library (check back here for more information on this and the September 27th NYPL event)
* Friday October 24 (lunchtime) program at 92Y Tribeca in NY
* October 29 (evening) YWCA-sponsored event at the Greenwich Public Library in Connecticut
• November 1 half-day (morning) conference at the Camelback Resort just outside Phoenix – featuring Gail Rentsch as the keynote speaker. Please tell your Arizona friends and check back for more details!
Keep an eye on the TTN calendar and the Smart Women Don't Retire website for details of those programs - - and please contact Betsy Werley if you know of an organization that would be interested in a TTN program.
A TIME BANK WITH A BROADER MISSION- VISITING NURSE SERVICE OF NEW YORK
As mentioned in this month’s newsletter, the TTN Caring Collaborative Time Bank will be operative this fall, starting with a service corps, a member health information service and a TTN time bank. Under this program, members can receive assistance from other members for health related needs such as accompanying a member to the doctors or getting information on a particular illness from a member with experience with the illness. The TTN time bank will record assistance given and assistance received.
The Visiting Nurse Service of New York (VNSNY) also operates a TimeBank with a much broader array of services. We are also pleased to announce that VNSNY has agreed to open up its TimeBank to TTN members for services other than health.
Here are some examples of how you can use the VNSNY TimeBank:
• Give a language lesson in exchange for someone to installing your shelves.
• Help a high school student edit his/her college essay in exchange for someone to teach you how to text message or organize your photos online.
• Tutor someone in English in exchange for a Chinese cooking lesson.
• Call someone stuck at home in exchange for help organizing a closet.
As with the TTN initiative, for every hour of service you contribute, you earn one time credit, which can be redeemed for an hour of service from the growing and more broadly based VNSNY Time Bank membership. There is never any pressure to contribute a specific amount or type of service—you only give what you want, when you want.
The VNSNY TimeBank is organized by hubs. There is one in Washington Heights/Inwood and one on the Lower East Side/Chinatown. While many VNSNY members live or work near those hubs, others live in other parts of Manhattan or in the other boroughs and choose to participate. VNSNY is expanding to Sunset Park, Brooklyn at the end of this year and has plans to continue to other areas.
And there is a bonus. If you are currently volunteering for any TTN activity, you will be awarded 10 credits for immediate deposit in the VNSNY time bank. When you sign up with VNS, just ask them to bank your 10 TTN credits.
Here’s what TTN members are saying about the VNSNY Time Bank:
Jane Wilson: TimeBanking has given me help I need and has allowed me to share my skills. I value the services, time, and respect I have received from other members.
Judy Capel: I love TimeBanking. It builds on our shared need for community by helping and supporting one another. And we achieve this while having fun and meeting great people…what more can we ask?
Interested? Just come to an orientation session held both in the evening and during the day for your convenience.
Upcoming sessions include:
Thursday, September 4th, 2008
Thursday, October 9th, 2008
Tuesday, November 11th, 2008
Tuesday, December 9th, 2008
Time: 6:00 to 8:00 PM.
Location: University Settlement Neighborhood Center, 189 Allen Street between East Houston and Stanton Street.
For questions or to register for an orientation session, simply call the TimeBank at 212-609-7811.
EXPAND YOUR CIRCLE OF FRIENDS ACROSS THE COUNTRY- LEAD A TELEPHONE PEER GROUP
Thanks to TTN, you're meeting interesting women in your home city and enjoying those new friendships. We're now offering another way to meet women across the country: leading a monthly telephone peer group of six to eight women who live outside our chapter cities - from Maine to Santa Monica. These 90-minute calls offer a forum for women to share their current transitions, learn from each other and become part of a new community, just like an in-person peer group.
We currently offer four "TPGs" which are successfully connecting our members. Many more national members are anxious to get started in a new group, and with your help, we'll be able to form those groups. What's in it for you? A chance to develop new friendships, to hear the voices of women from around the country and to help other women experience the inspiring support of TTN's community.
Cathy Carrington of TTN's staff supports the TPG facilitators, setting up the conference call number and helping with logistics.
If you are interested, we would welcome you -- please let us know a day of the week and time that you prefer (can be afternoon or evening, keeping in mind that the members could be in different time zones) and we will work to invite members to join the group launch in August, September or onwards! Send us an at cathy@thetransitionnetwork.org.
TTN MEMBER WILL PRESENT AT GLOBAL CONFERENCE ON AGING IN SEPTEMBER
NYC Member Kate Fischer will be making a presentation about the Not Home Alone project - an outreach program to take her patient pet care program at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Manhattan to other hospitals - at the 9th Global Conference on Aging sponsored by the International Federation on Aging in Montreal in September. The program assists with pet care in-home while the owner is hospitalized, and is of particular interest since many older people live alone and have no one to take care of a pet during hospitalization.
To read more about Kate and this innovative program, click here.
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