COA meeting Wednesday June 17, 2026
The meeting was called to order by Rachel at 3:00pm
Attendees: members Rachel, Diane, Donna and Kelle
General Business: A motion was made and seconded to approve the meeting minutes of May 13, 2026.
Review of past events: 
AARP Talk June 11th at 1030-noon- ‘making sense of caregiver costs’ talk- did not have a good turnout. 
Scheduled Future Activities:
Foot Clinics: Continue to go well- will continue this program with a $20 voluntary co-pay for those who can afford it. Rachel continues to make the appts for the clinics. New nurse Tina started- good reviews so far.
Walking Club - to continue indefinitely as long as weather permits. Only about 3-4 members continuing weekly. 1-1.5 Hour long from 10am-1130am. Continue to be advertised in Goal Post. Walkers have signed liability release forms. Walking club was offered as a free activity to the Heath COA
Third Thursday Coffee Morning June: Cancelled due to close proximity to Juneteenth holiday and also AARP event the week prior. 
Paint and Sip at Library on June 28th: COA will pay for seniors attending. 
July/August: Senior Picnics with/at park- COA to provide drinks/snacks. Rachel will get from BJs: seltzers, water, gingerale diet and regular, snacks and chips. 
July 23rd from 1130-2pm
August 13th from 1130-2pm
Summer Social: July 11th at Park from 10-2. Cyndie Stetson organized cake swap- advertised in goal post and will do robo (possibly flyer EDDM). COA will provide snacks/chips. Camp to provide drinks. 
September Medicare talk:  Booked in for September 2nd at 4pm- Informational about ‘Medicare supplement vs. medicare advantage plan- whuch is best for me? – Rachel to confirm closer to the time.
September Third Thursday Coffee: ? stamp activity- Rachel to check closet to see what supplies we have. 
Yoga and bone building with Kate Peppard: Kelle brought a proposal from Highland Yoga, Kate Peppard who’s contract with the Park will be no longer after June 2026. 
A motion was made, seconded and passes unanimously to fund a trial 6 week course for $360. The COA will then touch base about how class went and will decide to continue with this program or switch to a yoga class. Kelle will collect more info on the yoga program. Online classes to start august 18th and continue until September 22nd from 830-930am via zoom. Kate will deduct $5 a non-Rowe resident that joins up to Rowe paying $40/week instead of the $60/week. We will advertise in Goal Post and a flyer. 
Future Activities in the works:
Magic Wings Butterfly Garden: organize a trip using carpool, but COA pay for entry fee for seniors. Postponed at this time 
Rockwell Museum Trip- postponed
Mohawk State Forest- Postponed
Potential future activities (still being brainstormed)
•	Holiday Snacks (healthy)- demonstration how to make healthy snacks for the holidays. Putting together a small (easy) cookbook or folks to take home. 
•	Community Welcome Guide: idea brought forth to provide a guide to the area, services, maps, things to do etc for new seniors/residents in town. May be a multi-committee/board effort. Includes local food, shopping, fun/outdoor, handman, medical care, park maps. BJ will create a Google Doc to start adding ideas to this. 
•	Rowe “Village”- a spin-off of the ‘Village” that was set up in Shutesbury, Leverret and Wendell, providing free services /rides to seniors in town. Pre-reg/appointments would be required. Services include handman work, gardening, assistance with household chores, grocery shopping, rides/med rides etc. This is a very large undertaking requiring a lot of research- we will follow up on this at a later date. 
•	Paint and sip- Donna to look into this for the winter- may be a zoom event, possibly paid for in part by the cultural council. 
•	Positivity Speaker- ? Richie Davis who was a community journalist and author. GCC or Rowe Camp may have suggested speakers- will look into this at a future time. ?Cultural Council to pay for this with grant money. 
•	Pet talk- getting a local veterinarian/retired vet to come and chat about pet safety/health/ answer pet questions.  
•	Suggestion Box- It was discussed to put a suggestion box at the Town Hall entrance and in the Library for the seniors/community members to make suggestions of what activities they would like to see or topics they would like to get more information about.  
•	Check-in communities/Buddy system- Household groups of 3-4 would combine to make a ‘pod’ and check-in on each other at least weekly in whatever way suits them- Ie. Text, email, phone call, in-person, social media, etc. The COA would then do a matching process and create the ‘pods’ after sign up is complete. This is voluntary and people/households would be able to add themselves to the pods or discharge themselves as they desire. This will be tabled for the future due to lack of interest/confusion. 
•	Handy Person List: live Google doc still being added to, but there is enough contact details to get the list into the community. We are unsure of the logistics of putting this list out to the public- this is tabled for now.

Other Business/MISC: 
Next meeting is Wednesday July 15that 3pm.
Meeting adjourned at 3:27pm