The Resort’s Activities Directors:

The Best Season Ever?

By

Dale Dauten

“If you’re not having fun, you’re doing something wrong.”

Groucho Marx

After last season, the pandemic one, most people at the park would be grateful if the upcoming season can just approach being close to normal. Not so for the new pair of Activities Directors. Yes, there are two Activities Directors now and they’re out to bring double the energy to the job and not just get back to normal but to make this season the best ever.

There’s Margie Koboski, who jumped in to take over the leadership of Activities last year, and there’s Teresa Wilcox who Margie recruited to join her. They will be leaning heavily on the experience of Doug Gann, a familiar face around The Resort activities, the one who continues to lead the preparation of the facilities for events and who Margie says “is the one person who knows where everything is and how everything works.”

Photo: Margie (left), Doug and Teresa stop for a photo in front of the bulletin boards outside the ballroom. (Those bulletin boards are one of the best ways to keep up to date with all the upcoming events.)

Here’s how Teresa Wilcox, the newer member of the team, summed up their plans: “I believe we are going to have a great season. Margie and I plan to make it the best season ever.”

And, visiting with them, you can feel the energy they bring to the job, as in this exchange:

TERESA: What I love about working together is how we complement each other. Margie is the one with the experience, the one who knows all the details and is so organized.

MARGIE: Teresa calls me OCD.

TERESA: And I get so excited I get the giggles.

And while Margie may be the detail person of the two, she’s not adverse to lighthearted carrying on. You can witness this for yourself if you attend the dances. Should the band play the Tina Turner song “Proud Mary,” and they get to the lyrics about “rolling on the river,” Margie drops to the floor and rolls. What? Asked why, Margie just smiled and said that it was a tradition at another place she lived and she brought it with her to The Resort. “When I started, people were worried that I was having a seizure. They come over and ask, ‘Are you okay?’” She added that others are invited to join in and some have already done so.

Why two Activities Directors?

While Margie jumped in to take the lead last season, and while she loved the work, there was just too much of it. “I didn’t want to work full-time,” she decided. Along the way, however, she had spotted the enthusiasm of one of the volunteers helping at the Activities Office and the two came up with a plan to work together. “I didn’t want to work full-time, either,” Teresa explained, “so we took two halves and made a whole.”

(Photo: Margie and Teresa enjoy a quiet moment before opening the Activities Office)

GETTING INVOLVED

Part of the planning for the new season is wanting to get greater involvement from park residents, both in participation and in feedback.

“This season we want to get more feedback from residents about what they’d like,” Margie told us. For instance, we know there are plenty of activities on the weekends and there are those who’d to get more going during the week. So we’re starting something new this year: “Tuesday Night Fun Night: Try It You Might Like It”. Each of these evenings will feature residents with a skill to share – this could be a craft or a workout, or it could be trivia or ping pong or a White Elephant exchange.”

There are also actively seeking more volunteers. Teresa told us, “We’ve had people tell us that they put in their names to volunteer and were never contacted. That won’t happen now. If you volunteer, we’ll make sure to give you a call and another call and a third call.”

“We want everybody to be involved who wants to be involved,” Margie added and Teresa seconded that, saying, “It’s everyone’s park and we want everyone to participate, especially the new people. We have a lot of new people this years and once a month we have an event for them where residents come and answer questions and make suggestions about how to get active.”

PERSONAL FAVES

We also asked Margie and Teresa about their personal favorite activities and we correctly guessed the answer for Teresa (given that we profiled her husband Allan last year and he’s the head of bingo at The Resort). Teresa did not disappoint, saying, “I’d be a professional bingo player if I could.” But she also added, “I love the dances and the bashes – I just love being out with people.”

Margie shared her partner’s appreciation of bingo, and we know about the dances and “rolling on the river,” but she also singled out the jam sessions each Wednesday, as well as the Christmas golf cart parade and the presenting of the Quilts of Valor by the quilting and crafting ladies.

SUMMING UP

We feel confident that if you spend any time around Margie or Teresa, you’ll be anticipating The Resort’s best season yet.

NEWS FROM THE ACTIVITIES OFFICE

 IS BACK

Grab your friends and daubers

join us on November 4th , at 6:30 p.m.

for the start of the BINGO season.

Start the night off with dinner.

Dinner is served from 4:45 to 5:30 p.m.

Card sales begin at 5:30 p.m.

SATURDAY BREAKFAST

BALLROOM 8-10

NEW OPTIONS

PRESALE OF TICKET

Starting November 6^th

PURCHASE IN ACTIVITIES OFFICE

1.       SINGLE TICKET $6

2.      TICKET FOR 5 MEALS $30

3.      TICKET FOR 10 MEALS $60

4.      PURCHASED AT THE DOOR $7.00

CRAFT SALE

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10^TH

9 AM – 12 PM

Sign up for a table in the Activities Office after October 15^th

Breakfast Burritos will also be for sale

Patio Sale

Saturday, November 20, 2021

8AM-12PM

Sign up in Activities Office

Pick up signs from Activities Office

Your junk maybe someone else’s TREASURE

WELCOME BACK PARTY

DINNER AND DANCE

November 22, 2021

Dinner 6 PM – Walking Taco

Dance 7-10 PM

SPLASH BAND

MUST HAVE TICKET TO ATTEND

PICK UP TICKETS IN ACTIVITIES OFFICE

La Mesita Benefit

Sunday, December 5^th, 6 PM

Sponsored by “The Resort Crafty Ladies”

Please bring canned goods or cash donation for admission

Baked Goods, Crafts and Raffle Tickets will be for sale

Raffle Tickets are $1.00 each or 6/$5.00

Raffle drawing will be held at 7 PM

See a Crafty Lady to purchase.

Crafty Ladies gather in the Party Room

 1-3 pm Monday and Friday

Please feel free to join us!!!

Appetizer Crawl

ACTIVITY CALENDAR