The month of May is almost with us and still we have below zero weather and piles of snow. We all appreciate a slow melt but this is a snail pace melt and it brings its own particular problems. Farmers must be chomping at the bit waiting to get on the land and start the seeding process. Every week they are delayed means a delay at the other end of the season when crops are finally ready to take off.
In Saskatchewan seniors face many problems related to health, pensions, housing and cost of living, but at least we don't face on a day to day basis the threat of our country being annihilated like those people in Â鶹´«Ã½AV Korea. Their lives hang in the balance at the whim of some seemingly crazy young man in North Korea. If that wasn't bad enough we were not, I hope, standing on or near the finish line of the Boston Marathon when more mad people exploded bombs.
I attended a district meeting at Marcelin recently and while I was there I became aware that they had a large number of booklets and pamphlets on a table just by the door. Pamphlets and booklets that contained a great deal of information relating to older people. They had obtained them from the local Affinity Credit Union but they came originally from the Public Legal Education Association of Saskatchewan. PLEA provides the public with an introduction to a particular area of the law. In this case those booklets and pamphlets refer to seniors, at least those people over the age of 60. One of the booklets is actually entitled "Life after 60." They all contain a wealth of knowledge that we as seniors should be aware of and they can be extremely helpful in areas that seniors have concerns in. Contact PLEA at 306-653-1868 to learn how to obtain the pamphlets
It would be so helpful if the Saskatchewan government had this kind of information plus other information important to seniors contained in booklet form that was readily and openly available to us all. Instead of that we have to go and search our local government offices and identify what we are searching for before we can get help. Maybe a 1-800 seniors' help line would be the answer.
We still have a large number of district meetings taking place at this time and they will be followed by regional meetings and I urge you to give the information from those meetings to both the treasurer and secretary of SSAI so we can keep an up to date record of who is who out there. It's really important when it comes to putting information that relates to seniors in the hands of the centres.
All the times and events for convention are now more or less in place and this should be an interesting one with some great speakers and excellent presentations. Not the least is the open forum where we invite you to speak on behalf of yourself, your centre and all seniors in general and let everyone know what concerns you. Delegates from previous convention have thoroughly enjoyed and learned from this forum and expressed the opinion that more of the convention program should be like that. Members who do attend seem to enjoy just about everything on the agenda, they even enjoy the coffee breaks. The reason for that is that one member volunteers to provide all the fresh baked muffins and who doesn't enjoy that.
We will have copies of the constitution and bylaws available and there will be draws and raffles for those members who feel lucky. We even have 50/50 draws during the convention. I haven't won one yet but maybe this year will be a lucky one.
If you do make it to convention please take the time to come over and say hello. Busy as we may be we are not too busy to take the time to meet new friends. The old saying is so true that a stranger is just a friend you haven't met. So until convention, stay active and keep healthy. See you all soon.
