Message from the OLLI President

Dear OLLI Members,

OLLI board members and staff thank you for your ongoing support during these unusual, challenging and difficult times. We have experienced a significant loss of income from scheduled course cancellations and rescheduling due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But around every corner is a new opportunity for OLLI.

Our ingenuity and creativity have risen to new heights. OLLI Director, Lisa Smith-Youngs, has been diligently working behind the scenes with her colleagues, our volunteers and instructors to deliver OLLI courses via the distance learning platform Zoom gives OLLI a fresh opportunity to shine and come through with select OLLI courses delivered to you, our members. It works! I encourage you to give it a try - you can only grow and learn more of what OLLI can do for you. Contact the OLLI staff at olli@ucdavis.edu for assistance to get a FREE account virtually.

With that being said, please share this information with your friends. This is not a request such as a chain letter, but an earnest plea to each of you to reach out to your friends and friends of friends to keep OLLI viable and healthy. Twenty dollars ($20) secures an OLLI membership fee for the spring/summer quarter. Paid memberships receive access to weekly YouTube links featuring past OLLI courses and the opportunity to enroll in Zoom courses per usual course fees.

OLLI has also successfully conducted Board and Curriculum Committee meetings using Zoom. It’s good stuff!

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, I decided to curtail the Board’s charge to recruit new officers for the positions of president, treasurer, operations and technology. The current cadre of officers has agreed to extend for another year for the greater good of OLLI. Hats-off to our hard-working board members.

We are continuing our quest for facilities opportunities. Ongoing prospects include the Pamela Trokanski Dance Studio, Davis Veterans’ Community facility and the Bretton Woods Active Adult Community. These venues all would provide OLLI with larger spaces for classroom activities, whenever health authorities announce we can return to conventional learning.

I sincerely hope that all of you and your loved ones continue to follow and practice good health and physical distancing as we all move to a better place. Cheers and keep humor alive and well.

Sincerely,
Dave Hawke
President – OLLI Executive Board