November 8 ORANJ Zoom Conversation

Residents from 18 communities participated in the November 2023, Zoom conversation: Atrium, Applewood, Cadbury, Cedar Crest, Crane’s Mill, Crestwood Manor, Fellowship Village, Friends Village, Harrogate, House of the Good Shepherd, Laurel Circle, Lions Gate, Meadow Lakes, Medford Leas, Monroe Village, Oaks at Denville, Pines Village, and Winchester Gardens.  Six communities were absent: Bristol Glen, Lantern Hill, Seabrook, Stonebridge, The Evergreens, Wiley Mission.

Thanks again to Andy Kleppe for preparing the recap. Please be sure to read item eight below concerning Financial Review Committees and do encourage someone from your FRC to attend the FRC Zoom meetings which will be held in December.

Maggie Heineman, Communications Chair, November 18, 2023

RECAP BY ANDY:

Barbara Trought called the meeting to order at 10:00 AM. Closed Captioning is available by selecting the icon at the bottom of your screen. Barbara reminded all that the next ORANJ Plenary Meeting will be on October 16, 2024, at Seabrook, an Erickson Community.  An executive from Erickson will probably be the morning speaker.

The topics are numbered for easy reference.

1. Barbara Trought led a discussion about the October 2023 Plenary meeting asking for things that may have worked well and things that did not work well.
2. There were many comments about the afternoon session, including focus on the subject matter that seemed to stray from what was expected i.e., Governance.  Some suggested more time to meet other community’s residents in smaller groups in addition to lunch.  Others suggested that the presentation by the morning speaker be recorded and made available to all communities.
3. Positive comments included: The quality of morning speaker discussing increase in “Fee for Service” contracts as well as a need for younger move-ins, the efficiency of the volunteer residents of Monroe Village in directing attendees around the meeting, and praise for the morning snacks along with the suggestion that gluten-free items be included.  Most agreed that lunch was efficiently served and delicious.
4. Juli from Winchester Gardens reported on a positive trend in new move-ins who are younger, more active, and willing to be involved in the Residents Association.  Expecting increase in 4th Quarter 2023 move-ins resulting in a positive increase in census.
5. This was followed by a discussion of interaction between newer and younger residents with older and existing residents.  Fellowship Village cited its actions in making programs and activities more relevant to younger move-ins.
6. A Crane’s Mill resident talked about the need for more residents to be more involved in community governance. This led to a reminder by Maggie of a 2020 article on the topic by Jim Gallagher which is linked from the top of the Publications page on the ORANJ website.  Worth Reading.
7. There was an extended discussion of Financial Review Committees (FRCs) and an announcement that ORANJ is identifying leaders of FRCs in order to bring them together for Zoom Conversations which will begin soon. Three participants spoke favorably of the ORANJ Finance Committee Guidebook, which is listed at the top of the ORANJ Publications page. The direct link is  https://oranjccrc.org/ResearchPDFs/FinanceGuide.pdf . The NaCCRA 2022 Financial Soundness Handbook and Jim Gallagher’s document, Bringing CCRC Governance Up to Date, are also linked from the top of the publications page, https://oranjccrc.org/publications/. We were also reminded that the 990s of non-profit are publicly available.
8. There will not be a Second Wednesday Zoom Conversation in December. The next one will be on Wednesday, January 10th, 2024, at 10 am.

There being no further discussions the meeting was adjourned at 11:00AM.