Issue link: https://imageup.uberflip.com/i/1439367
10 | SUN LAKES LIFESTYLES | JANUARY 2022 | How did you happen to select Sun Lakes as your next or final home? Did friends live here, or someone told you about the complex? Were you looking for a place to move to and you discovered it? We probably have thousands of different stories that answer these questions. Once we moved in, did we really know what we were getting into? Probably not! Even though we were told to read the CC&Rs and By- Laws, we probably didn't; we moved in and figured we would swing with the flow and take it one day at a time. After 35 years, Sun Lakes has changed with the times. Years ago most of the move-ins were retired or going to retire in the very near future. That set a whole different attitude for the life and lifestyles of our complex. Today a large number of our residents are not retired and that puts a different spin on their daily life at Sun Lakes. A great deal of time is spent away from the complex and the thinking of participation is not as strong as that of the full time residents. Many of the meetings of the clubs and groups are during the day. This has caused memberships to wane. The participants are fewer and the crowds have lessened. This causes a dilemma. If meetings and events are planned for the evenings or weekends, there are others who will not attend. There are those who would like to be on Advisory Committees. They would be able to attend and participate if the meeting were in the evening. However, some members of the Committee will not venture out at night and, therefore, would not be part of the Committee. Sounds like a perfect catch-22. Each organization has to look unto themselves and see what is possible to gain membership. Clubs and groups should check their membership and discover if more events can be staged in the evening or on weekends. Even the Board of Directors and the Delegate Assembly should evaluate their plans and schedules for future events and meetings. The demographics have changed over the years at Sun Lakes. There must be a way to satisfy this change. But first things first — what are the changes? We do not know how many residents are still working, we do not know what the average age is at Sun Lakes, we do not know if residents would participate even if they had the time, or if they are interested in joining an advisory committee. There are a host of questions to be answered before one step is taken to change anything here at Sun Lakes. A meaningful survey must be established with positive questions that will give us positive data to make changes. How many homes have workers in them? How many homes have residents who will not venture out at night? How many homes have residents who want to participate? How many residents really want to be part of the community? How many just want a quiet place to live? We are at a turning point at Sun Lakes, all of these questions are important — we should find the answers. DISTRICT DELEGATE ASSEMBLY REPORT SUN LAKES IS AT A TURNING POINT By Joe Formino, Chairman, District Delegate Assembly