Past Programs

By Alexandra Newman, Region IV Area Agency on Aging

“The Story of Aging” is an overview of Area Agency on Aging’s programs and services through the lens of real community members who have called the Agency’s free Info-Line for Aging and Disability and want to share their stories with others. Along the way, Alexandra will share a few tips on how she gets a good client impact story through interviews and photos, and how Area Agency on Aging can help connect older adults and people with disabilities to a wide network of providers, partners, and programs to help them age independently.

Alexandra Newman is the communications and outreach coordinator at Region IV Area Agency on Aging. When she joined the Agency in early 2023, she brought a decade of story-telling experience to the role. A journalist by training, she uses a variety of mediums to tell the story of Area Agency on Aging. A job at The Herald-Palladium newspaper brought Newman to Southwest Michigan in 2017 and she instantly fell in love with the unsalted Lake Michigan coast. She’s an advocate and cheerleader for keeping older adults and people with disabilities living independently in their homes or wherever they may choose.

Drop off donations:
Tuesday, May 28th and Wednesday, May 29th – 10 am to 2 pm.

Sale:
Thursday, May 30th, and Friday, May 31st – 9 am to 4 pm.
Saturday, June 1st – 9 am to noon

Shop for treasures and support South Haven Scott Club’s major fundraiser by donating clean items in good condition and attending the sale to take advantage of some incredible bargains. Proceeds will help support maintenance of the Scott Club, a Michigan Historic site, and the rich variety of programs offered.

By Michael Nassaney, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Western Michigan University

In 1997, a group of history enthusiasts in Niles, Michigan called Professor Michael Nassaney and asked him if he could help them find a lost French fort. He assembled a team of archaeologists, started the search, found the fort, and has been learning about 18th century Fort St. Joseph ever since. Come and hear how Professor Nassaney directed the Fort St. Joseph Archeological Project for over two decades and what he learned about one of the oldest European settlements in the western Great Lakes region.

Dr. Michael Nassaney is an archaeologist, author, editor, consultant, and Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at Western Michigan University. From 1988-2020 he served as the principal investigator of the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project, an interdisciplinary program in community service that focuses on the site of Fort St. Joseph in Niles, Michigan. He directed the investigations of the Underground Railroad in Cass County in 2002. Nassaney has published numerous works on the archaeology of eastern North America, including The Archaeology of the North American Fur Trade (University Press of Florida, 2015) and Fort St. Joseph Revealed (University Press of Florida, 2019).

Friday, May 10th from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.
Saturday, May 11th from 9:00 am to noon.

Beautify your surroundings with gorgeous plants by supporting the South Haven Scott Club Annual Flower Sale. Geraniums in many colors and a variety of ferns and hanging baskets will be available. Funds raised will help us maintain our historic building and provide a rich variety of programs.

By South Haven History Students

The National History Day Contest Theme for 2024 is “Turning Points in History”.
“A turning point in history is more than just an important event that happened a long time ago. A turning point is an idea, event, or action that directly, or sometimes indirectly, causes change.” -NHD.org

The students, with the guidance of their teacher, Julie Sheppard, will be preparing their projects for the National History Day 2024 competition. Join us at Scott Club as their live audience to witness the result of the hard work that goes into these wonderful projects.

By Robin Beebee

From comfort to creativity, marijuana has many positive effects. Robin BeeBee, founder of Selectively Social Cannababes, will provide an overview of the various types and uses of cannabis, including the distinctive properties of THC and CBD as well as their diverse health and wellness benefits.

By Peter A. Schmitt, PT, DPT, MS

While in Oberstdorf, Germany, Dr. Schmitt’s interest was piqued by residents of all ages using what looked like ski poles to walk on dry land. His subsequent research revealed a body of evidence-based literature indicating significant value of the technique for both able-bodied and disabled persons alike. Dr. Schmitt will discuss the history of Nordic walking, its inception and progression. Demonstration will include proper technique as well as some simple exercises that can be done with Nordic walking poles. He will also show examples of different pole designs and discuss equipment selection based on the pros and cons of each. The presentation will include a free raffle drawing for a set of Nordic walking poles.

Peter A. Schmitt, PT, DPT, MS, is a retired Doctor of Physical Therapy with a 45-plus year career in the Chicago area. His clinical and management roles within multiple settings included a wide range of patient diagnoses with eventual areas of specialization predominantly focused on diabetes prevention, amputees, neurological conditions, and movement disorders (including Parkinson’s Disease) within the geriatric population. In the course of expanding his clinical “toolbox”, he trained as a Nordic Walking instructor through the American Nordic Walking Association (ANWA). Dr. Schmitt has presented at the Rush University Hospital Movement Disorders Patient Symposium, demonstrating the poles’ value in improving gait in Parkinson’s patients.

By Author, Dr. Anna-Lisa Cox

Anna-Lisa Cox is an award-winning historian of nineteenth-century America whose studies have focused on race relations of the frontier and rural Midwest. Her 2006 book, A Stronger Kinship, documents the history of Covert, Michigan and the policies of inclusion and equality that helped to form it. If you would like a signed copy of her book, please purchase it on Amazon in advance and bring it to the program.

Dr. Cox is currently a Non-Resident Fellow at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. Her original research underpins two exhibits at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture while her writing has been featured in a variety of publications including The Washington Post and The New York Times. The blog entry she co-wrote on racial massacres in the antebellum North for the Smithsonian’s NMAH blog went viral in the summer of 2020. Her recent book The Bone and Sinew of the Land: America’s Forgotten Black Pioneers and the Struggle for Equality was honored by the Smithsonian Magazine as one of the best history books of 2018. She just completed a major project for the Library of Congress Folklife Center collecting oral histories from multi-generational African American farmers in the Midwest. She is currently directing the Questioning Conversation video series for the National Park Service’s Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program while completing her next book.