Own Your Future: The Changing Shape of Retirement and Long-Term Living Option

Sunday 6 November, 2011 from 2 - 5 pm at the Lake Oswego Adult Community Center

On Sunday, 28 August 2011, I attended the Palisades Neighborhood Association (PNA) General Meeting, held at The Stafford Retirement Community, 1200 Overlook Drive in Lake Oswego.

The Palisades Neighborhood Association is building a Neighborhood Emergency Preparedness Plan that will help all of us in times of an emergency.  It has been shown that those communities that survive best in times of an emergency are those where the members have strong ties, help and share limited resources with each other.  It is my thought that there is a strong connection between the LOVE:Bank and preparing our community for an emergency.  Both are about building strong community ties.  Both are about neighbor helping neighbor and both are about sharing limited resources.

If you would like to see how the LOVE:Bank works, this Flash Demo will give you a peek - so to speak - inside the vault. You will learn how to search the advertisements and place an ad of your own. This is a guided tour with limited functionality.

Workshop Title: Lake Oswego - a Model for Successful Aging-in-Place

About 10 people attended each Lake Oswego Adult Community Center (LOACC) - Computer Learning Center (CLC) - User Group workshop, and a third of the people who attended the second (18 April) were not at the first one (11 April 2011). People asked thoughtful questions and we received many helpful comments. However, only two people had registered with the LOVE:Bank by the start of the second workshop, which precluded teaching an inclusive hands-on course. Three themes emerged and a possible path forward:

Pay It Forward

Shifting demographics show that Lake Oswego is an aging community.* Many long-term LO residents wish to grow old here. Others are finding that the housing market precludes them from readily selling their homes. In either case, the result is that people are aging-in-place at home in our community. Last September 14th, our City Council held a study session on aging-in-place, which concluded with Mayor Hoffman asking: How do we plan for service delivery in a 10 to 15 year time frame?

One of the most promising opportunities for reciprocal exchange is when people help each other live safely and age gracefully at home in our community. The same computer network technologies that power LOVE can be harnessed to empower people to connect together for mutual support. Metro-Portland is at the forefront of innovation in this emerging field of successful aging technologies.

                There is no miracle or cure for growing older and LOVE (Lake Oswego Value Exchange) is not proposing that that there is one.  What we have is a way to alleviate some of the hardships that confront an aging population. 

Lake Oswego Centennial Festival Celebration

17 July 2010 at Luscher Farm

It was a perfectly sunny and breezy Saturday for the LO-100 Celebration – a perfect day to roll-out LOVE for our LO fellows in the Community Pavilion.

Last evening I was the guest presenter, invited to the Lake Oswego Transitional Shelter Ministry (LOTSM) Board meeting by their President, Ueli Stadler. “Guest” has a special meaning for LOTSM because their ministry hosts Guest Families from Clackamas County emergency shelters in rent-free apartments and provides volunteer services to support their Guest Family’s successful transition back to independence.