Meota ADRA sponsored Santa Day in Meota Dec. 4. This event has been a regular occurrence here for many years and will continue for many years to come. Over the years, entertainers have been hired and have helped to make the day a success for young and old. This year the format was a little different and, as with many things, change is often a good thing.
This year, the afternoon started with a lunch of hot dogs and beans for all who came, and come they did. In the end I think there were somewhere in the neighbourhood of 80 or so people who sat down to eat and visit with friends. Of those who attended there was a range of ages from infants in strollers to folk in their golden years.
Once the meal was finished, the Meota Lions chorus led all who were there in the singing of Christmas carols. This was followed by the showing of a Christmas movie. Of course, a movie would be incomplete without the traditional popcorn and a drink, which were supplied.
It was great to see how everyone pitched in to help make things roll smoothly. Some of the young gals jumped in and served bags of popcorn and a drink to everyone else who was seated, which was just fantastic to see.
Once the movie was over, the chorus led in the singing of a few more carols, which was interrupted when that jolly old man in the red suit (Santa to those few that might not have caught that) showed up and spent time talking to each of the younger generation and to give them a toy along with oranges and candy canes.
That tied up the entertainment part of the afternoon, but again different folks jumped in to help pack up the theatre system and to help clean up and put things away. All in all it was a wonderful afternoon of friendship and entertainment for all ages and a great way to bring people together which is so important for the community.
The only hitch to the day was in getting the word out to people to let them know it was taking place. This has seemed to be a problem for the ADRA committee ever since I have been involved. It doesn't seem to matter what type of media or combinations we use it seems that the word doesn't get out to everyone in the community.
Saturday morning, Brenda and I were talking about this after she had informed our neighbour girls, who had not heard about it even though it had been in this paper, the community newsletter, on all of the bulletin boards around the community and others. After this I suggested we phone a few others and from this we found out it seemed there were quite a few who had not heard about it. Of course Brenda had taken the lead on this by making the calls and thanks to this, after many calls there were a lot of people, especially young ones who showed up who otherwise would have missed it. This problem has been hashed about at our meetings over the years and, other than taking the time to contact everyone personally, we haven't come up with the answer.
This past week Meota ADRA donated $500 to the Meota Fitness Centre, which is another of the hidden treasures in our community. I have talked with folks who didn't know it existed. Again I think the answer to getting the word out is not the fault of those involved, it is just that for some reason, in this information age, there is something lacking. Maybe there is just too much information out there and things get lost in information overload.
In the fitness facility, there is a great selection of high quality exercise machines. This is a well set up facility for anyone who wishes to spend some time working out. If you are interested you can contact Terrence DaSilva at 892-2013 or Robert Iverson at 892-4626. The fees are extremely reasonable, so give them a call. When they received the cheque they wanted me to express their great appreciation to the ADRA group for the donation.
Nov. 25, when the kaiser players got together, Herman Hoogland took first place, Jean Gansauge came in second, third place went to Juliette Blais and Fred Gansauge followed in fourth place.
In contract bridge action Nov. 29, first place went to Eric Callbeck with Terrence DaSilva taking second. Nov. 30, in duplicate bridge, Robert Iverson and Joyce Antoine teamed up to take first place with Ross Morton and Ray Davie coming second.
Quote: "It's a miracle that curiosity survives formal education." Albert Einstein.
