LifeLong Learning at PebbleCreek

Living Life with a Purpose

Bill Nee

Many of us believe we should use our talents and skills by volunteering to strengthen our families, neighborhoods, and world, to leave them better. That involvement would not only be positive for society but would result in giving our lives more meaning.

Pastor Rick Warren, author of The Purpose-Driven Life, created a TED Talk titled, A Life of Purpose. He shares how to use our talents and influence to do good. He encourages us to look at our worldview of life and codify our roles in how we can make the world around us a better place. Being good and doing good can bring us meaning and self-worth. Warren wants us to use the affluence and influence that we have to help those who don’t.

To view this 21-minute talk, go to TED.com, click watch in the header, then TED Talks, then in Search Talks input “A life of purpose,” scroll a little lower, and click on the talk you selected.

Amazon, Fry’s Programs Benefit LLL

Patricia Ingalls

Authorize Fry’s Food Stores and Amazon to make donations to LifeLong Learning (LLL), at no cost to you. You can easily initiate the process online, allowing each company to donate a portion of your future purchases through them directly to Lifelong Learning.

Since the fall of 2016, when LLL entered the two corporate programs, they have deposited a combined total of more than $3,500 into LLL’s treasury, thanks to about 220 PebbleCreek supporters, who have designated non-profit LLL as their charitable recipient. Purchases by those who travel or maintain a second home out of state still apply when shopping at any Fry’s affiliate, such as Kroger and King Soopers.

“We appreciate this boost to our bottom line,” LLL Treasurer Wendy Frumkin said, “especially during this unprecedented pandemic period of adapting and making do, with our board waiving fees, even while still offering lectures and classes via Zoom, during the recently concluded 2020-21 season.”

Register LLL as your charitable choice by going to lifelonglearningatpc.org. Under Donate, click Fry’s Community Rewards Program and follow the prompts to link your Fry’s card with LLL. Click AmazonSmile to activate your Amazon purchase donations.

Planning Post-Pandemic

Paul Polk

Signs of normalcy are returning to PebbleCreek. Many residents have been fully vaccinated and, by following CDC guidelines, are able to engage in more social activities. Some of our meeting rooms are already open, using reduced capacity, and we hope that, by next fall, things will be much more like we remember it here.

But how to plan for that? The board members of LifeLong Learning met in mid-April to start planning for the 2021-22 season. Our full set of offerings typically includes classes, trips, Monday Morning Lectures, Premier Lectures, PC Reads, and TED Talks.

Last season’s plans went out the window when the pandemic lockdowns hit in March 2020. We held no trips, no TED Talks, and no Premier Lectures. We used Zoom to conduct all classes, Monday Morning Lectures, and PC Reads, and we waived all participant fees. We very much appreciate all of you who joined us. Attendance was lower for most events than in past seasons, and we had to cancel some classes and lectures that didn’t lend themselves to Zoom format.

For next season, we are planning our activities based on three scenarios:

* Best case: All facilities are open without restrictions

* Worst case: Limited facilities are open and crowd restrictions remain

* Most likely case: A mix of the two

Only time will tell which scenario plays out in the fall. We may have to change in mid-season, as we did this season.

Whatever happens, LLL remains committed to bringing quality educational opportunities to the PebbleCreek community in the best and safest ways we can.

Tales of Intrigue Entice PC Reads

Patricia Ingalls

Lifelong Learning’s book discussion group, called PC Reads, has selected two books for its monthly Zoom dialogues in May and June. See the end of this article for instructions on how to participate.

For May: A Woman of No Importance by Sonia Purcell

In 1942, the Gestapo sent out an urgent transmission: “She is the most dangerous of all Allied spies. We must find and destroy her.”

The target in their sights was Virginia Hall, a Baltimore socialite, who talked her way into Special Operations Executive, a British spy organization, dubbed Winston Churchill’s “Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.” She became the first Allied woman deployed behind enemy lines and—despite her prosthetic leg—helped light the flame of the French Resistance, revolutionizing secret warfare as we know it.

Based on new, extensive research, author Sonia Purnell has uncovered the full, secret life of Hall—an astounding, inspiring story of heroism, “spycraft,” resistance, and personal triumph over shocking adversity. A Woman of No Importance is a breathtaking story of how one woman’s fierce persistence helped win the war.

This New York Times’ bestseller was similarly honored by National Public Radio, New York Public Library, Amazon, Seattle Times, Washington Independent’s Review of Books and Minneapolis Star Tribune.

For June: When We Believed in Mermaids by Barbara O’Neal

From the author of The Art of Inheriting Secrets comes an emotional new tale of two sisters, an ocean of lies, and a search for the truth. Her sister has been dead for 15 years, when she sees her on the TV news.

Josie Bianci was killed years ago on a train during a terrorist attack in Auckland, New Zealand. Gone forever is what her sister, Kit, an ER doctor in Santa Cruz, has always believed. Yet all it takes is a few heart-wrenching seconds to upend Kit’s world.

Now, if the two sisters are to reunite, it can only be by unearthing long-buried secrets and facing a devastating truth that has kept them apart far too long. To regain their relationship, they may have to lose everything.

How to participate: Free PC Reads events are held year-round on the first Thursday of each month, from 5 to 6:30 p.m., now using Zoom, due to COVID restrictions. Registration is required and limited to 20 participants, with a waitlist. Register on LLL’s website at www.lifelonglearningatpc.org. If needed, email any further questions about PC Reads to [email protected].