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INSIDE ASHBY VILLAGE

Get to Know the Program Leadership Team

Meet the members of the Ashby Village Program Leadership Team!

The PLT is comprised of dedicated, seasoned volunteer leaders with intimate working knowledge of Ashby Village programming who liaison with the Executive Director and staff representing core village program areas, including health and wellness, neighborhood groups, events, volunteering, technology, and community outreach.

To learn more about the formation and functions of the PLT in Ashby Village operations here.

Meet Mary Graham!

A Self-Described “academic groupie”

Mary retired from her position as Academic Personnel Analyst at Cal Berkeley in 2014, but joined Ashby Village the year prior. “When you retire, you do volunteer work” was the way she was brought up, prompting her to look for her next “job” early on. The Ashby Village office was within walking distance of campus at the time, a friendly, open-door hub for volunteers, members, and staff where she quickly found new purpose. She loves the perfectly level playing field of the Village, the absence of hierarchy among volunteers and members.

All About Communication

Mary’s early jobs included writing member spotlights for the Village Voices. She also co-led a retirement transition group of 15, and, on another team, co-facilitated a forum to solicit member feedback on how to enhance Village-wide communications. Fast forward to today and notice how her work still revolves around communication. She values her personal connections with staff, members, and volunteers. These conversations helped generate the impetus for her to head up a Steering Committee for the recently formed Membership Engagement Team. The 2024 member survey will help inform Village priorities going forward, but from her boots-on-the-ground experience, Mary has an inkling that increased member-to-member engagement will be an ongoing theme. In addition to being the co-lead (with Susan Newman) of the Northtowns Neighborhood Group, she is an active member of the Connections Team.

A Third Generation California Native

Mary was born in Santa Cruz and raised in Paradise, California. She started college at UC Davis and transferred to Berkeley after an early marriage. She has been very happily divorced for over 40 years. Mary cared for her father and a very dear cousin in their late stages of life. Family first, but really all human connections are essential to Mary, along with a deep appreciation of nature. “I have made more friends at the Village than I ever did at work,” she says.

She Loves Turtles

Mary kept live turtles in the past, but now collects turtle art and figurines from around the world. Why turtles? Might it be the turtle’s steadiness and no-nonsense attributes that resonate? Those that have the pleasure of knowing and working alongside Mary certainly see kindred spirits.

If Mary’s story intrigues you or might possibly intrigue someone you know to become a volunteer and/or member at Ashby Village, please contact Ashby Village Volunteer Coordinator Jessica Sterling at jessica@ashbyvillage.org. To chat with Mary in person, feel free to join the Northtowns monthly Happy Hour (the first Monday of the month at 4pm) at the Factory Bar in Richmond.

Meet Karen Cross!

Karen is “almost” a native Californian, if not an Oaklander. While born in Salt Lake City, UT, she moved here as a child, attended local schools and completed her studies in business administration and early childhood education at Mills College.

Co-Creating Community

Karen’s introduction to Ashby Village occurred when she researched the co-housing movement and someone mentioned the Village Movement. While co-housing is also about living in physical proximity, it shares with villages the collaboration for community, a theme that has always resonated with Karen. Her children went to a co-op nursery school that supported her when her husband died and the children were young – turning the notion of “collaborative community” into lived experience.

Words, Books, Language, Communication

Upon graduation from Mills College, Karen took a job as director of a multiple location daycare center, overseeing 35 employees serving over 100 children in three locations. After three years, Karen decided to “try on” a sales position in publishing. The job, selling upcoming books to local bookstores, quickly turned into a perfect fit for Karen. She loved the work and it showed. Her responsibilities grew and with every publishing house consolidation, Karen acquired more responsibilities, soon managing publisher relationships at Publishers Group West and later, at Ingram Publishing. She was VP at Publisher’s Group West, now Ingram, when she retired at age 70.

Karen volunteers teaching English to refugees, through Refugee and Immigrant Transitions. Here, she helps women from all over the world learn to read and write in English.

And it is in this vein of helping others with words, communication and understanding that Karen embraces opportunities here at Ashby Village, where she works on the Tech and Social Care teams.

Karen loves this work. She is as grateful to be allowed to provide services to others as others may be grateful to receive them.

At Home, Rarely Alone

A glimpse into Karen’s kitchen reveals a sunny space decorated with photographs of Parisian street markets. Karen loves to cook, read, travel and spend time in good company. She has two children, Jessica and Eric, four grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.

If Karen’s story inspires you to become a volunteer on the technology, social care or other program team, start by contacting Ashby Village Volunteer Coordinator Jessica Sterling at jessica@ashbyvillage.org to join our collaborative community and discover the joy of helping others.

Meet Joan Straumanis!

About 8 years ago, Joan Straumanis, like many, joined Ashby Village as a volunteer, but the story of how she found us is unique. While traveling in Cuba, she befriended another American woman who mentioned her Bay Area friend named Joan Cole. Joan Cole is Mrs. Straumanis’ birth name, and that fact prompted her to contact Joan Cole upon her return to the Bay Area. The two Joans became instant friends and this Joan (Straumanis), agreed to join Joan Cole as Co-Lead of the Ashby Village Outreach Ambassadors Team.

The Outreach Team work of recruiting volunteers and members is still her favorite engagement at the village. She is the team lead now and loves the collaboration among the team of seven volunteers. They meet monthly to strategize and coordinate follow-up phone calls to people interested in becoming an Ashby Village member or volunteer. They talk with prospective members to describe the many benefits of the village and to answer questions that may arise. They also host the monthly Ashby Village Information Sessions, on Zoom and in person, and represent Ashby Village at community events, such as street fairs like the Solano Stroll and farmers markets. The work is challenging, diverse and really important, a liaison between the outside world and Ashby Villagers, and mirrors Joan’s other work inside of the village, where she is the liaison between the Program Leadership Team and the Board of Directors.

Bringing Her Leadership Experience to Ashby Village

Earlier, Joan assisted Andy Gaines, the Ashby Village Executive Director at the time, conceptualizing and conducting a leadership retreat and advised him on management concerns. Joan also presented a leadership workshop to the wider California Village community at an annual conference in San Diego. These contributions flowed naturally from Joan’s earlier work life in academia. Joan Straumanis has been a high school teacher, college professor, dean at three colleges and president of two: Antioch College in Ohio and the Metropolitan College of New York in Manhattan. She has also served as a program director at two Federal agencies, the U.S. Department of Education (FIPSE: the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education), and the National Science Foundation, where she managed basic research in neuroscience and learning. She was a founder of women's studies as an academic discipline and pioneered legislation protecting sexual assault counselors and victims. She has served on four national boards accrediting education in the health professions.

Joan is perceived by her colleagues the way she sees herself: very organized, a good leader with a clear sense of direction who is respectful of everyone’s time. Cordial at meetings, everyone knows about important events in the others’ lives, while concentrating on the task at hand. Efficient.

This is only a radically abridged summary of Joan’s many groundbreaking achievements, of which founding both women’s studies and a multi-college Eco-League particularly stands out. Joan remains very busy. In addition to her work at Ashby Village, she fundraises for Antioch College, where she was the president from 2002 -2004, and continues to volunteer for the Antioch College Alumni Association.

Joan's Passion is Travel

Only someone out in the world a lot would make backyard connections in Cuba! Discovering other cultures and continued deep learning are important to her. As soon as travel became easier again, she visited Colombia in late 2022, followed by a trip to Baja, Mexico. This past July, she traveled with her youngest grandson, Nico Chambers, to the Canadian Rockies. For family travel like this, Joan prefers to set out with one child at a time, “no parents, no siblings”. What a great way to learn more about each other, away from home! And, finally, Joan recently returned from travel in Sicily for a couple of weeks.

Meet People In Person (and request a ride!)

Asked about Village challenges ahead, Joan reflects that the organization seems quite robust to her, and she praises how useful it is to many. Joan encourages villagers to get out and participate in-person village events – be they classes, lectures, parties, or concerts. Gathering with fellow villagers is a great way to avoid being too isolated. While parking for events at the Ashby Village main office can be challenging, Joan says "instead of driving, call the village for a ride!" It's one of the wonderful benefits of Ashby Village membership. You can meet Joan in person at most Social Hours, held the first Friday of every month (check the AV Calendar). Come say hello!

If Joan’s work at Ashby Village sparked your interest in volunteering with the Outreach Team (or any other team that supports the village), please contact Jessica@ashbyvillage.org or call 510 204 9200.

Meet Jeanette Ward!

Jeanette is co-chair to Roberta Pressman on the Healthier Aging team. She is known by many as the volunteer leader who plans, organizes, and guides the highly popular Ashby Village (AV) nature walks and hikes. These outdoor activities were particularly popular at the height of the pandemic, as they truly offered the only opportunity for villagers and those exploring village membership to meet one another safely in person. Interestingly, while those days promoted walks and hikes as an antidote for loneliness, the demand not only remained stable but steadily increased, even as more in-person gatherings are resuming. In addition to walks and hikes, Jeanette collaborates on the Events Team and is a member of the Connections Team who's involved in training MedPals (a crucial service available to all members) and helps to fine tune processes as needed.

The Village Concept Is Second Nature to Jeanette

Jeanette came to AV as a transplant. She and her husband moved here from Half Moon Bay, a move that, without question in Jeanette’s mind, would also include a move to another Village. As a founding member of the Village of the Coastside (VOTC), she joined North Oakland Village as an associate member “on the fringe” (her definition) because their property sits on the Southernmost perimeter of the Oakland city limits. Around this time, Jeanette spread the village concept even further.

Barely moved into her new Oakland neighborhood, Jeanette joined her HOA Board and helped resuscitate a dormant “Neighbors helping Neighbors” network. She recalls that this happened organically, perhaps influenced by a confluence of needs, where everyone wanted to get to know their neighbors better during the pandemic and the Village Movement was coming of age. Jeanette brought her villager-at-heart charisma to her neighborhood, and the beautiful outcome is that today Jeanette and her neighbors, who are diverse by nature, have become a kind of an informal village in the original reciprocal spirit of the concept.

Jeanette was happy to become part of AV via the North Oakland-Ashby merger. AV has been a guiding light to many other villages, says Jeanette, and certainly so for VOTC. The networks of the Village Movement California and wider global Village-to-Village Network mean a lot to her, not only for their mission to support villagers to age where they wish, but also for their thoughtful and helpful, yet never rigid system of processes, all the way down to software support, and Jeanette knows what she is talking about. She is familiar with Club Express, the AV web and calendar software, and is one of very few volunteer-members who knows how to organize an event and input it directly in the online calendar.

If she had to pick a favorite among her activities at AV, Jeanette would choose the nature walks, perhaps because participation and enthusiasm have grown simultaneously. As she says: “They come for the exercise and return for the conversations”. Jeanette is equally fond of her Connections Team involvement, where a true friendship evolved from her volunteer service as a talking buddy to a member for over three years. Her Events Team collaborations are fulfilling as well, allowing her to combine her desire to share helpful information and plan fun and interesting events for villagers (remember the presentation on reverse mortgages?).

A Focus on Wellbeing, Enjoying Family and Exploring

Jeanette worked in rehabilitation counseling, which explains her big heart for the health and wellbeing of others and her equally deep understanding of what it takes to maintain health as best we can. Her MedPal involvement and her passion for healthier aging come from this experience and interest. She is an avid walker, Pickleball player, and “gym rat” (her words), Jeanette survived the pandemic on a Peloton bike when working out at a gym was not an option.

When not busy volunteering and engaging at AV or helping her neighbors, Jeanette loves to spend time with family, including her teenage grandsons. It was their idea to have their grandparents move closer, and while the physical distance between their houses is as small as their emotional ties are strong, they leave each other lots of space, which may be the secret ingredient to their successful relationships. Apart from a shared Sunday meal in either house, Jeanette and her family go their own ways most of the time, knowing they can count on each other, unconditionally and at any time. Travel is another of Jeanette's favorite things to do, and now that restraints have vanished and the environment feels safer, she plans to venture out to see bluebonnets in Texas and enjoy the sun and ocean in Hawaii.

Looking Ahead

Asked what she perceives as the biggest challenge at Ashby Village, Jeanette reflected that it may be difficult to maintain the small village feel given our growth. “Neighborhood groups help to keep gatherings small and intimate, while AV social hours provide opportunities for more folks to meet, which is great.” As to what gives her hope? A true villager, Jeanette’s belief and hope is that our mission can be successful, given the sharing of abundant resources, good will, and the culture of neighbors helping neighbors.

If any of the many aspects of Jeanette’s work sparked interest in getting more involved with Ashby Village volunteering as a walk/hike leader, organizing healthier aging activities, lending your talents to other programs and events, or helping members with direct services, please contact Volunteer Coordinator Jessica Sterling at jessica@ashbyvillage.org or call 510-204-9200.

Meet Irene Marcos!

Irene sat down with an Ashby Village communications volunteer for this conversation just days before her upcoming knee surgery. Irene commented positively, “I hope I can soon do a long distance hike, ideally in a foreign country.” This wouldn't be the first trip of this kind for Irene. She once walked 100 miles in 10 days on the Camino de Santiago path in Spain. Imagining another pilgrimage like this is her North Star now. She loves to travel and discover the art, food and customs in other parts of the world.

Leading From The Beginning

It was in a 2006 NYT article where Irene read about the Beacon Hill community in Boston that created the first Village, becoming the model for the village movement. The members of that community struggled with some of the same issues many of our Ashby villagers are familiar with as we strive to age successfully and independently in the places we call home.

Irene was happy and interested to learn of Ashby Village in 2010, the founding year. She became a volunteer working in the office three days a week for three years and focused her efforts on helping to define all aspects of the volunteer program. You may have heard how deeply the Ashby Village training and orientation volunteer program is appreciated, and Irene was one of the key players who worked on its conception. As the Volunteer Team leader, Irene was invited to be one of the founding members of the Program Leadership Team. In 2016, Irene became a member of the Arts and Culture Team and has participated in creating the many well received presentations featuring artists, writers, politicians and musicians, among others.

Being a part of the leadership of an organization like Ashby Village that can make such a positive difference in the lives of its members, volunteers and the greater East Bay community, is what fills Irene’s heart.

Earlier Days of Fashion Design and Travel

Before relocating to California, Irene was a successful clothing designer, working in the fashion mecca New York alongside Emilio Pucci and Rudi Gernreich. She was invited to promote her and their designs on the Gypsy Rose Lee television show that was produced in San Francisco. She quickly fell in love with the city and the people (i.e., us!) on that trip. While it took a few years, Irene eventually moved to the Bay Area. She started new studies and earned a B.A. in Psychology right before being recruited by Gap, Inc. to assist in the startup of their new Hemisphere division. She played a major role in the reimagining of the Banana Republic product lines and was also invited, subsequently, to join the Dockers division of Levi Strauss. All offered influential positions that had Irene flying all over the country and the world. She loved the travel and the fulfilling work, but the price was a high level of stress.

True to her positive spirit, Irene shared that her first diagnosis of thyroid cancer around that time came to be a sort of blessing. She emerged from her experience with cancer, including a second occurrence, with a completely new understanding and recognition of the impact of the priorities we choose in our lives. “My body has been on my side, it is still alive, it supports me and I need to respect and care for it.”

Her profound experience led to volunteer work and a Board position at the Women’s Cancer Resource Center, then in Oakland. Informed by her struggle and survival, Irene wanted to be helpful to other women with cancer and founded a Post Treatment group at the Center.

Channeling Her Passions at Ashby Village

Currently at Ashby Village, Irene is a member of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) committee and has worked to improve our It Takes A Village program, which provides financial assistance to those in our community who cannot afford the full cost of membership. Irene believes strongly that the success of our DEI and It Takes A Village program efforts contribute greatly to the vibrancy of our Village.

What does Irene perceive as the biggest challenge Ashby Village is facing? It is essential that our Village continue to sustainably manage the lingering impacts of the pandemic on our community, and offering value to our members and gratitude to our volunteers are paramount to these efforts. Irene feels it is important to maintain the ethos of the smaller founding village that strives to accommodate all -- to continue in the spirit that says “we will fill that need” in a world constrained by continuing public health precautions and apprehensions at this time of significant growth with a relatively new, wonderful and efficient staff.

Remember the Holiday party? So many attended, masked, having made their way through wind and winter weather, maybe not staying for long, but wanting to see, hear, touch and share time with other Villagers. This is what we want to offer our members and volunteers: a welcoming place for all.

By the time you read this, hopefully Irene will have planned her next walking trip inspired by memories of how stimulating it can be to experience being in a new and personally unexplored part of our world.

If Irene's story has inspired you to get involved with Ashby Village DEI efforts or volunteer in other areas, please contact Volunteer Coordinator Jessica Sterling at jessica@ashbyvillage.org or call the Ashby Village office at 510-204-9200.

Meet Mary Jo Powell!

Upon leaving her work life as Medicare certified Home Health Nurse, Administrator, and Consultant, seeking volunteer opportunities, social contacts and a place to play bridge, Mary Jo came across an article in the San Francisco Chronicle about Ashby Village. Their mission intrigued her, so she called and shortly thereafter attended a volunteer orientation. That welcoming day to the Village blew her away! Mary Jo said that never in her work life had she experienced an orientation session as thorough and compelling as Ashby’s. Needless to say, she was hooked, became a dedicated volunteer and her engagement grew substantially from there.

In her early days at Ashby, Mary Jo was a driver, MedPal, and a collaborator on the Events Team, namely co-coordinating a bridge group, which she still misses. When becoming a member, she looked for the neighborhood group with the most activities, and although she lives in El Cerrito, chose to join the Hamlet (North West Berkeley) group for their maximum activity level. (Did you know that there are no restrictions as to the neighborhood group one can join?) Perhaps Mary Jo also joined this group with the most covert sounding name to highlight that point.

When Bill French, the former neighborhood group lead murmured about leaving to lighten his responsibility load, Mary Jo stepped in. Early on, Neighborhood Groups were not represented on the Program Leadership Team, but as soon as this void was recognized, Mary Jo also volunteered to be the Neighborhood Group Council liaison and she remained in that position until November 2022.

The question of what others think about Mary Jo was illustrated in a wall-hanging Don Hubbard presented to her as a farewell present from the Neighborhood Group Council: speaks her mind, helpful, reliable, cuts-to-the-chase, and in very small type: sometimes exasperated.

Family Life

Mary Jo was married to Naval Officer Captain William M. Powell, and they and their three children moved around a lot, up and down the West Coast, but also to Maryland, Michigan, Hawaii and Sasebo, a city on the island of Kyushu, Japan. Mary Jo's three children all became teachers. They, including six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, are spread out from California and Florida to Switzerland with only one family living nearby in Albany. And, they are making up for other family long-distances big time -- one of Mary Jo's grandchildren lives with her. A wonderful example of exactly the intergenerational, mutually beneficial relationships and living arrangements Villagers are talking about more and more recently.

What’s Next?

Mary Jo perceives the drive for more diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) as the biggest challenge for Ashby Village. She would like to see more, especially ethnic, diversity in the village and finds it unfortunate that we do not yet see greater results following so many conversations about the subject. In other cultures and countries, elders are taken care of by their immediate families and in their neighborhoods. Promoting social connection and learning together, and striving for a more diverse and multigenerational community (and maybe more bridge playing) may get the village a little closer.

When asked about the future, on the very day where 11 rounds of votes had not yet confirmed a House speaker, Mary Jo uttered that she still has hope that our country will straighten out our political divisions, broaden diversity and find mutual understanding.

Mary Jo is traveling a visionary path, demonstrating intergenerational dexterity. Her answers are quick, to the point and accompanied by fabulous facial expressions. Her warmth and no-nonsense approach to life are also expressed by the stationary bike right next to her desk and her dog Bibi sleeping next to her, in her own chair. Active and independent, together.

If you are interested in participating in a bridge group, or if you’re considering volunteering on the Events Team, with DEI efforts, or any other group that connects Villagers with similar interests, please contact Volunteer Coordinator Jessica Sterling at jessica@ashbyvillage.org or call the Ashby Village office at 510-204-9200.

Meet Judith Coates!

Judith is a cofounder of the North Oakland Village. She had just completed a chaplain internship and was seeking the next turn in her varied career when she read an article in the SF Chronicle in December 2008 about the emerging San Francisco Village. This example of a compassionate, community-based solution to the problems facing all of us as we age -- coping with losing friends and making new ones, isolation, needing assistance to remain independent in our homes -- struck a chord with her and prompted Judith to learn more about the Village movement. Believing that her Oakland neighborhood would benefit from a Village, she spearheaded the effort to build it.

A notice in a neighborhood newsletter drew others intrigued by the idea, and soon a first meeting was held at Judith’s kitchen table in the Oakland house she has called home since 1979. Lively discussions, interest fueling more interest, a Montclarion article bringing in more participants including members of St. John’s Episcopal Church, followed. This core group soon launched the process to create the legal entity for North Oakland Village (NOV) and leased an office at Broadway and 51st street in 2010. From the beginning there were connections with Ashby Village, NOV’s larger and more established “big sister”. The AV founders and staff were always open to sharing their experiences, suggesting possibilities and strategizing together.

When NOV realized that their small size and slow growth meant they were not financially sustainable for the long term, merger talks were initiated to consolidate resources with Ashby Village. In July of 2020, at the height of the pandemic, the two villages merged, NOV gradually becoming a neighborhood group. Judith finds the pandemic has been both a blessing and a curse for the merger. Never before would we have been able to bridge distances so easily, Zooming into each other’s neighborhoods and living rooms. Which is also the curse, as there are some members who do not have the wherewithal or desire to participate virtually. As we are easing into more frequent in-person gatherings, which many feels are much more satisfying than on-screen talking heads, Judith hopes that NOV can host some future events in Oakland, including maybe a social hour and speaker events. Possible sites include churches, City Slicker Farms, libraries, and senior centers.

Within the growing Ashby Village, Judith holds several roles: she has been a member of the Events Team, is part of the member Connections Team in her Oakland neighborhood group, participates in Elder Action, and is currently attending the DEI Intensive, a four-session monthly training program initiated by the Village Movement California network and DEI Training Institute to support and amplify efforts to bring increased diversity to villages. A very ambitious, complex, and multifaceted project, says Judith, raising questions of how to find a balance between working toward elimination of bias and prioritizing openness and welcome, while avoiding a potential overreach of expecting too much assimilation among different cultural groups.

Asked about what she perceives as the biggest challenge facing the village, Judith thought of several:

The increasing average age of members which calls for more services and tools than we currently offer.
The challenge to maintain the heart and soul of the village, which hinges on in-person connections, through times of social distancing, which are not yet over.
The aim to broaden the diversity of the village.

The question of what gives her hope prompted an exclamation: the basic goodness of people! Judith has been awed by the openheartedness and readiness of so many to help their fellow villagers. Especially during the pandemic: everyone has worked extra hard in whichever ways they could, united by the common goal to uphold a sense of connection and community. It has been a heroic effort made TOGETHER. This demonstration of collective vulnerability and care for each other is very heartwarming to Judith. And, she quickly added, young people with energy and dedication to saving the planet and making the world a better place for all also bring her tremendous hope. They share and care so much!

When not engaged in her various roles within Ashby Village or connecting with her seven siblings, two children and five grandchildren who are dispersed all over the country and as far away as Tunisia, Judith enjoys reading, gardening and experimenting with painting. Clearly reading and continued education have been important factors in her life, as witnessed by the many different careers she pursued: from Air Force officer to job placement counselor, to computer programmer/analyst, English-as-a-second-language teacher, to studying at the Interfaith Chaplaincy Seminary and becoming an Ordained Minister and Hospice Chaplain in her 60s.

If Judith’s work or any aspect of her rich story sparked interest in getting more involved with Ashby Village as a volunteer for a neighborhood group, the Events Team, the Tech Team, DEI initiatives or any other team that cares about Villagers, please contact Volunteer Coordinator Jessica Sterling at jessica@ashbyvillage.org or call 510-204-9200.

Meet Maryl Gearhart!

Maryl joined Ashby Village as a volunteer in 2015 at the time she retired from her academic career at UC Berkeley in the Graduate School of Education. Looking for something different to do and to give back to society, she volunteered in several places, among them Rebuilding Together, tutoring in school settings, and supporting political campaigns. Maryl quickly gravitated towards spending most of her volunteer time at Ashby Village as the Village’s mission to connect older adults with each other and the resources they need to remain active and engaged greatly resonated with her.

In her early days at Ashby Village, Maryl assisted in the office, assisted the then Executive Director Andy Gaines with some report editing and survey design and analysis, and volunteered on the decluttering team. Her academic work at UC Berkeley had always included the use of technology, so when Andy invited Village members and volunteers to enroll in an intergenerational UC Berkeley seminar to investigate how to design technologies for older people, it more than piqued her interest. In this seminar offered by CITRIS (Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society), Maryl quickly noticed that she, while part of the aging population, was not experiencing the challenges that many older people have with technology. She realized that many people in their 60s and beyond have had limited experience with computers, printers, and smartphones, and while that pattern will change over the next 20 years, there’s currently a great need to support older people because technology is integrated in every aspect of our lives.

The course became the catalyst for Maryl’s decision to become a Village technology volunteer, and she discovered that while there have always been technology volunteers, volunteers were not organized as a team. Maryl and another volunteer, Lisa Nelbach, asked Andy to help them gather technology volunteers together and establish the Tech Team in January 2017. Many tech volunteers began to attend the monthly meetings (though there are other active tech volunteers who prefer to volunteer on their own).

The Tech Team started with a needs assessment, and the team has conducted the assessment three times, gathering information on questions such as:

are there patterns in the kinds of tech services members request?
how many tech volunteers are active?
what devices do members own?
are there ways to support members in addition to one-to-one services - for example, tech interest groups, workshops, and Village Voices articles?

Informed by the findings from these assessments, the team diversified strategies for Village tech support. Several times a year the team offers technology workshops, some co-sponsored with the UC Berkeley Retirement Center with the support of tech volunteer Pat Hom. The team has added more neighborhood tech interest groups as casual forums to exchange ideas, questions, and solutions. And the team has written articles on tech topics for the Village Voices newsletter and archived those on the Ashby Village Tech Tips webpage.

In hindsight, the 2017 founding of the Ashby Village technology services could not have been more timely, as the pandemic three years later revealed a true need for Village members to use technology. As became abruptly clear, email, texts and Zooms became our lifelines—the only ways to stay connected to each other, our families and friends, and to our doctors. During the pandemic, technology volunteers met the demand for Zoom support by creating a specialist “Zoom team” of volunteers coordinated by volunteer Hilary Naylor and by continuing to offer tech services over the phone and Zoom. In-person interest groups and workshops were also offered over Zoom. Despite the challenges of isolation during the pandemic, there was a silver lining to this dependence on Zoom. As Maryl explains in her article, "Zooming into the Future," members report that Zoom often provides them better access to Village programs and events. Although nothing replaces the pleasure of socializing in person, Zoom can make it easier to view a presentation, hear the presenter, and participate in discussion—and attendance doesn’t require the time and challenges of transportation.

Recently Maryl and her husband moved to Wichita, Kansas for half the year to live near their elder son and his family. Due to her physical distance, the Tech Team, with the support of staff member Su-Yin Bickner, reorganized the team's leadership, and in Village-togetherness fashion, the responsibility for the Tech Team leadership is now shared by a six-person steering committee. The steering committee is taking initiative in new ways! Jack Frater is writing articles for the monthly newsletter Tech Tips column. Bill Graham worked with volunteer Patty Mintz and staff member Karen Dean to re-establish the Hearing Support Group. Craig Griffith is exploring partnerships with other organizations. Pat Hom is generating new ideas for communication. Hilary Naylor is guiding the development of workshops. And Maryl continues as the liaison to the Program Leadership Team. Monthly meetings have been reorganized as well. At whole group meetings, all tech volunteers are invited to exchange ideas and experiences, and then the steering committee strategizes about how to meet the evolving needs for Village tech support.

Second to all this work for fellow Villagers, Maryl also likes to quilt, read, cook, and take classes through the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. And she enjoys the outdoors. She and her husband like to travel, often in the form of camping and hiking trips using their camper van.

For Maryl, a challenge at Ashby Village is the increasing member age, leading to a greater need for tech support services. Giving her hope are her grandchildren, who are inquisitive, funny, creative and engaged. Perhaps we can talk them into becoming a part of the solution?

If Maryl's experiences have inspired you to learn more or get similarly involved, consider joining one of the neighborhood tech interest group meetings to get acquainted with Village tech volunteers. Or perhaps you’d like to join the Tech Team as a fellow volunteer! To explore these opportunities and others, email your inquiry to the Ashby Village office at info@ashbyvillage.org or call 510-204-9200.

Meet Roberta Pressman!

Roberta became acquainted with Ashby Village some 13 years ago, before the organization was formally founded. She had recently moved from Boston to the Bay Area and was invited by friends she knew from high school to join a brainstorm about the creation of a village style support system for elders. It was in Pat Sussman’s living room, where Roberta first met this interesting, smart group of people and joined the engaging conversation. Before long, she was “in for life” and the rest is history, as they say.

Member support that helps Villagers to stay in their homes was clearly the mission from the get-go and a huge task that quickly organized into three primary focus areas: the Social Care, Connections, and Healthier Aging teams. As a very physically active person and a Psychologist, Roberta knows all about the mind-body connection and how much regular exercise can contribute to a healthy body and healthy mind. To “keep moving” for good health is second nature to Roberta and naturally she founded (and still leads) the Healthier Aging team. Today, member support also comprises educational programs and other resource development and Roberta, along with Ellen Newman and Dagmar Friedman, represents member interests and needs to the Board and vice versa.

Roberta continues to be deeply connected to Ashby Village because the organization offers not only a deep sense of community but also opportunities to do what she has always done and enjoys most: finding creative ways to support others. And, new areas of importance bubble up all the time. What makes Ashby Village unique in Roberta’s eyes is the wealth of knowledge and experience members and volunteers bring to the table and that this wisdom is met with robust support from leadership and staff who convene and ponder the possibilities and then form new support systems for all. Possibilities, not boundaries!

While we all look for meaningful engagement in the later phase of our lives, not many places exist like Ashby Village where there is so much freedom to create ways to help others. In addition to her first and enduring love for Healthier Aging and involvement with the Member Support Leadership Group, Roberta is an active member of Elder Action and has a keen interest in combating ageism.

The Ashby Village Elder Action interest group is where villagers come together to act on issues important to our members and volunteers, including combatting climate change and advocating for elder and health care reform. Most recently, Roberta has been instrumental in sparking the formation of an anti-ageism interest group. Members of this group plan to focus on raising awareness of our personal negative feelings about aging and tackling several age-related political and societal challenges, such as improved geriatric care services and better access to them and more reliable and affordable home services.

Asked what she believes to be Ashby Village’s biggest challenge lying ahead, Roberta believes it may well be the rising average member age (currently at 82) and the additional needs that come with advanced age: increased social care, audio and visual assistance, and more hand-on help all around. (Parenthetical remark: Roberta does not like to be asked to narrow her perspective, to pick just one item. "There are so many tasks to tackle, why rank them?") A very likable trait that comes through in all her work, always seeing the big picture.

Her hope for the future? Roberta is optimistic that the current transformation of the Village will lead to a new and exciting place. Perhaps not easy, in light of a quickly growing membership beyond the original Village neighborhoods, new staff and leadership, not to mention a lingering pandemic! But, good energy abounds in this village. In tandem with our supportive and experienced leadership and staff, we are creating solutions and welcoming many new members every month. Roberta says that while her enjoyment of murder mysteries got her through the pandemic, she is looking forward to the future and to gathering again under one roof for a community celebration.

In the meantime, and when not busy with her many passion projects at Ashby Village, Roberta will feed her love of hiking in the hills out on the trails, enjoy live theatre and good food in good company, and continue reading and discussing good literature with her book club.

If you wish to learn more or perhaps are interested in volunteering on one of Roberta’s teams or contributing to a related project, please leave a message for Roberta at the Ashby Village office by calling 510-204-9200 or emailing info@ashbyvillage.org.

Meet Sigrid Duesberg!

For six years, Sigrid has been an active and dedicated Ashby Village volunteer. Currently she serves as the leader of the Events Team, one of the teams responsible for bringing engaging programming to Ashby Village members. As such, Sigrid also serves as a member of the Program Leadership Team, or PLT. These two leadership positions are not the full extent of Sigrid’s commitment to Ashby Village, however. She also serves as a member of the Arts and Culture and Outreach Teams. (And on top of all she does for Ashby Village, she is still working and has her own small company!)

Sigrid's relationship with Ashby Village began when, as an empty-nester, she went on the hunt for a volunteer opportunity that entailed working with elders. She had heard good things about Ashby Village and was captivated by the idea of providing services that would enable people to age at home.

“I completely agree that older adults should be in their homes,” she says, inspired by the example of her father who, at 94 still lives happily in the house and garden he built many years ago.

But Ashby Village also offered her something significant that tugged at her heartstrings: “I love that Ashby Village goes beyond services, offering the emotional support of social activities, a kind of family.”

Voila! The perfect leader for the Events Team, which is all about getting people together to meet, mingle, laugh, and make friends. In short, to have fun.

The Events Team manages a team of volunteers who provide hospitality support for a variety of events, such as an annual picnic and holiday party. But the signature event for the Events Team is the monthly Social Hour and Pre-Social Hour Events. For years, Social Hour was a fixture on the Ashby Village calendar, a gathering where members and volunteers could make new friends, meet old ones and generally enjoy a great party. As Sigrid describes it, “New members came, older regulars came, it was a really nice mix.”

This all came to a screeching halt when lockdown hit.

“Social Hour on Zoom? Not so easy,” according to Sigrid. But the team, ever creative, added themes and hatched other ideas to spark conversation within the limitations of Zoom sociability. When Zoom fatigue kicked in toward the end of last year, the team replaced the Social Hour with “Friday Afternoon at the Movies,” which has become so popular that it’s spun off as its own program.

But nothing takes the place of in-person partying, and Sigrid misses the direct interaction with members. Fortunately this situation recently changed again as the Social Hour moved away from Zoom to, cautiously, hold its first scheduled in-person Social Hour in over two years on June 3rd at Ashby Village. The Events Team is gearing up to restore the Social Hour to once again feature snacks, beverages and, most of all, a welcoming place for conversation and fun.

The Rewards of Working With the PLT

In addition to managing the Events Team and its activities, Sigrid represents the Events Team on the PLT, which she finds a heartening assignment. “It’s important for team leaders to come together and talk about our areas and the issues that arise from different perspectives. I more and more appreciate the PLT because of the quality of the information we exchange, being so close to the members,” Sigrid says.

Challenges of the last several years aside, Sigrid’s work as lead of the Events Team and member of the PLT gives her enormous satisfaction. As she sums it up, “I’m so in awe of seeing the members live their lives, engaging with other members and volunteers. It’s inspiring.”

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The Ashby Village Social Hour takes place the first Friday of every month for members and volunteers. Be sure to check the Ashby Village Calendar for details each month. Social Hour events, including Pre-Social Hour presentations, are typically held in the Julia Morgan Hall at the Ashby Village office, located at 1821 Catalina Street, Berkeley.

If you would like to join the fun (including becoming a volunteer member of the Events Team), call the office at (510) 204-9200 or email info@ashbyvillage.org to learn more.

“I’m so in awe of seeing the members live their lives, engaging with other members and volunteers. It’s inspiring.”

Ashby Village
1821 Catalina Ave
Berkeley, CA 94707
(510) 204-9200
info@ashbyvillage.org

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