Monthly Village Newsletter November, 2025

From Frank...

November is National Family Caregiver Month.  We will be sponsoring an event at the library on Sunday, November 2nd at 1:30pm which I hope many of you can attend.  We’ll show some excerpts from the film, Caregiving, featuring actor Bradley Cooper who was a care partner to his father.  

After the movie, we’ll have a panel discussion where I’ll speak about my experience as a caregiver to my mother; Angela Fields, LICSW, DC Caregivers Institute Director, will share resources for family caregivers; Marisela Bolanos, MSW, CDP, CMDCP, Support Group Program Manager, Johns Hopkins Medicine/Sibley Memorial Hospital Senior Department will speak about the hospital's resources; and Dr. Oye Owolewa, PharmD, and US Shadow Representative for DC will speak about medication management, resources, and public policy. The panel discussion will be moderated by Arlene Bierman, M.D. with a specialty in gerontology.

Our monthly calendar of events for members was mailed earlier this week so please stay tuned to your mailboxes!  All of the events are also listed in this monthly newsletter email, but I’ve heard from many members that they enjoy the printed calendar and find it convenient to put on their desk or fridge.  Please know that each month, we also print a large-print version of the calendar, so if you’d like to receive this version, please let the office know and we’ll get you a copy.

Allow me to highlight two fun event taking place in November.  

• Once again, our Village will be making and delivering homemade Thanksgiving meals. Volunteers are encouraged to contact the office via email to let us know if you’d be willing to make a dish or two.  Members can request a homecooked meal to be delivered by a volunteer.  The meals are assembled in the morning and delivered around 11 and can be reheated.  We try to accommodate dietary restrictions as best we can, so if you’re a member and interested in receiving a meal, please send us an email and explain any dietary needs (as well as a preference for white or dark meat!)

  
  

• On November 20th, we’re trying something new and getting out of dodge.  Two (or maybe 3) volunteers will drive members to the Baltimore Museum of Art to tour the museum and have lunch at Gertrude’s, located in the museum.  I can personally attest to the scrumptious crab cakes!  This out-of-town trip is a result of work of the Programs Team.  Space will be limited due to carpooling so please reserve your spot early.

  
  

Finally, I’d like to ask members to please return the form requesting demographic information and your consent (or not) to share your information with our funder, the DC Dept. of Aging & Community Living.  We currently only have about half of the forms returned.  It is very important that we have complete information, so please make this a priority. If you’ve lost your form, you can click here and print another one.  Alternatively, you can call the office at 202-615-5853. Similarly, we send out emails each month when your annual membership is up for renewal.  I would greatly appreciate it if you could promptly renew your membership, or send an email if your circumstances have changed. This will reduce the amount of staff time devoted to membership renewals. Please review the entire the newsletter here.

— Frank Finamore, Executive Director

PS Our Village won the Washington Area Village Exchange’s Founder Award for our We Are Your Neighbors project! Thanks so much to all who participated in the project.