Empowering Community Engagement

Almost a year has passed since I became president of the VHA. As Cormac McCarthy said in The Road, “Time came and went.”  Did it ever! During the year 2023 many things changed. We changed “The Voice” from an insert to a full-page ad in the Daily Sun. We worked with Tangent Media to provide The Voice digitally on the same delivery day. Our membership information database allows us to provide you with an email indicating that both versions are available. Our Facebook coordinator also sends a notice of availability. We are working to provide you with updated information in a timely fashion. Coming soon will be a resource hub and video media library.

Dave Fountaine, Karl Arps, and Tweet Coleman have provided informational forums throughout the year. These forums covered a wide variety of topics from local government to wellness. Karl will be leaving his position as VP North to fill a position on the ARC board. Dave and Tweet along with their assistants will continue to provide informational forums in 2024.

We made a change in our Residents Night monthly program. We removed the word New. That’s correct. The information presented at Residents Night is not just for people who have moved to our community recently. The night is open to all residents regardless of how long you have lived here. Information changes, we welcome the opportunity to share that information with you.

Our Golf Cart Safety program continues to provide great information for residents. The program is held on the third Wednesday of every month at Colony Cottage Recreation Center at 9:00am. You can check our ad in The Voice or at thevha.net to confirm.

VHA Bingo, monthly, is a real financial benefit to our organization. Net proceeds from bingo provide money for our Foundation. Those funds are distributed to local organizations in need of financial support. During the year in 2023 we will have distributed over $30,000 to help others in need.

We continue to support the VHA Helping Hands. Helping Hands is amazingly busy loaning durable medical equipment. In 2023 they may well exceed 10,000 contacts.  Remember they also are a completely volunteer organization. They can always use your help. If you are able and willing to provide some time, I’m sure it would be appreciated by their leadership team.

On November 14th we held our first Health and Wellness Expo. What a great success! We invited a group of sponsors who focused on wellness. Several hundred residents attended the event and took advantage of participating in a six-speaker series covering various aspects of wellbeing. The net income from the Expo will be donated to local groups through our Foundation. We will provide another Health and Wellness Expo on November 15, 2024.

Moving forward you may hear me discuss “Get Involved” and “Make a Difference.” These two catch phrases will become part of our mission at The VHA. We want you to Get Involved, we are not going to tell you how to do that. We want you to become part of your community. You may choose to become involved in a recreational activity; golf, pickleball, shuffleboard, disc golf, a walking group, or a book club. You may choose to become involved in a local church. You could also choose to become involved in local government on a CDD level. We urge you to “Get Involved.”

Humans are social. Our community provides us with an amazing tool box of resources to do just that, be social. Opening the tool box and using the tools provided can generate a better quality of life. If each of us has a better quality, the result will be a vibrant community and continuation of the positive environment that has been created. Using these tools will “Make a Difference.”

Many of the programs we are presenting have become members only. The size of the room dictates the number of residents that participate. Notice of members only will be posted along with the notice of the meeting. Another great reason to join The VHA. The VHA mission is to provide positive, constructive dialogue, problem solving, education, and philanthropy. We will continue to work with the Developer, District Government, Municipal and County Governments to provide the correct information you deserve to read.