One hundred twelve degrees today, I guess summer must be here. While E-News would normally not be published during the summer months, these are not normal times and I thought it was important to let you know that ASURA is still here. Following are a few of the activities that have been going on.

ASURA Events During Physical Distancing

As the longer-term impacts of the coronavirus pandemic stretch into the coming months, retirement organizations are having to creatively modify their in-person events to provide virtual connections. Carl Cross participated in an AROHE* Idea Exchange webinar on Adapting Events During Physical Distancing in the hopes of garnering some ideas that ASURA might use during this pandemic The webinar discussed ideas for a variety of retiree events such as social gatherings, recognition and awards ceremonies or other special events.

Sue Barnes, AROHE President, talked about membership engagement stating that “It’s easy for members to walk away from an organization, but it’s not as easy for them to walk away from people. Zoom allows people who don’t normally come to physical meetings to participate. We need to actively keep in touch with our retirees – one of the reasons for this E-news.

Carl prepared some notes from the webinar and has distributed them to the Board and Events chairs asking them to think about ways ASURA can hold interesting, safe events in the upcoming months, e.g., a Meet and Greet Pizza Picnic. If you have any ideas just reply to this E-News and I will pass them along to the Events chairs.

*AROHE – Association of Retirement Organizations in Higher Education. ASURA and the Emeritus College are members.

Report of the May Meeting of the Governor’s Council on Aging

Carl Cross rightly pointed out that we are being inundated with coronavirus items but I thought the following was worth pointing out since it is related directly to Arizona and shows continuing activity by ASURA members. Jeri Meeks, Pat Schneider, and others “attended” the May Zoom meeting of the Governor’s Council on Aging which discussed COVID-19 Testing. Jeri prepared a report which is available on ASURA’s Governor’s Council on Aging webpage.

Membership Renewal

If you value the activities that ASURA undertakes, now is the time to show your support. Membership renewal emails and letters will be coming out shortly and I hope you will want to renew. The ASU Foundation, which is the ASURA banker, has changed donor systems and so those of you who pay by credit card will notice a new look. Our look will change some in the coming weeks, as the folks at the Foundation learn more about their new system.