GO TEAMS GO!
Donna Milbee is the original facilitator of the SunShine Singles group. I asked Donna the history of the group in Sabal Springs and found that there was a previous group of singles, but it was no longer functioning when Donna moved to our community. Being a very active person—cards, pickleball, games, exercise groups, the Breeze, among many other interests—Donna found many people who wanted to attend various events outside of the community and thought they should advertise to carpool. She found that advertising a carpool was not allowed (assume for insurance liability reasons), thus a way to join together to attend outside events had to come from a different direction. Many of the people she spoke to were single. Thus, they decided in 2022, to start a new singles group. So now they could not only carpool, but had others to call on to go for lunch or dinner here or in the larger area, attend other events, watch sports, enjoy live music and dancing, have beach days, go to movies, the theater, travel, and to spend time together on the holidays.
Donna came to Sabal Springs from Cape Coral, which had an active singles group that she helped launch. This made it easier to organize and establish a mission for our group, which is to find things to do and people to do them with. In addition, we are frequently invited to their gatherings, and they are frequently welcomed at ours. Other originators, including Sue Dodge (an effective marketer who first invited me to attend), Phyllis Chauvin, Betty Crabtree, Geri Gregorio, Lorraine Harrington, Jessica Hayes, Marge Light, Terri Marotta (current president), Phyllis Monfredini (first secretary), Tish Stencil, Judith Stevenson, Terry Sybrant, Ellie Wawrin, and Karen Winterle, were instrumental in getting the word out and convincing people to come to the meetings and participate. There are now more than 50 names on our master list. Although the names above are all women, men have joined since and are encouraged to join.
Activities for the end of October and November have included listening and dancing to “Bandstand” and “Trilogy” at the Lake House, attending the Halloween party in the multipurpose room, going to a Halloween party at Cape Cabaret, watching NFL football, participating in Krafts, attending Sabal Springs’ Chili Cook Off, and going to a music performance to celebrate Veterans Day. And we are getting ready for the progressive dinner on Dec. 6, which will be at Lorraine’s house. We are also tentatively planning a Manatee Boat Tour, a “True Tours” walking tour of Historic Downtown Fort Myers, attending an Everblades hockey game, and touring Iguana Land.
The next meeting is Wednesday, Dec. 17 at 4:30 p.m. The meeting place is tentatively scheduled to be in the Sunshine Room at Eagles Landing. If you would like to be on our e-mail list, please contact me, Jane Hansen, at [email protected]. Members are encouraged to attend the meetings as input for ideas for future activities are an important part of the mission of this group.
