As you can see our blog has been on a little break for about two months. Wow how time gets away from us. This post will mostly be a re-cap of what’s happened over the last few weeks and we will resume our weekly – maybe twice weekly posting schedule with our business meeting next week.

The sun has started to peek its face out of the clouds and with the warmer weather comes exciting new business!

We had a wonderful visit from Julia Waterhous about a month ago with an update on her documentary project: “Don’t Waste People” about the waste pickers in New Delhi, India. She’s finished filming and hopes to have the documentary (90 min) ready to view by the end of June. Her goal is to have it aired on OPB, at festivals and universities to help affect policy making in India. Just 4 days later Julia left for Nepal to work with an NGO to deliver vitamins to women to help prevent birth defects. You can read more about what Julia is doing on her blog.

PEERS member Karen Swanger is in FULL Girls on the Run and KidSpirit swing. GOTR is always looking for additional donations to support their program and the scholarships that allows every girl to participate regardless of whether her family can pay or not. One way you can contribute is by attending their Pre-Corvallis Half Marathon Pasta Feed on Saturday April 13 5:00pm-8:00pm at the Benton County Fairgrounds. Gluten-Free options ARE available! More info here

Attorney Karen Misfeldt has spoken to our group twice, because it’s such a large topic, about the importance of Estate Planning. I’m not about to try to sum it all up in just one paragraph… but yes it is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT! You might be saying to yourself, “Hmmmm well I don’t really have a lot of money or stuff so I probably don’t even have an estate…” Turns out that it isn’t actually that difficult to have enough to have an estate, so odds are you do. Please speak with your/an attorney about how you can help protect your family and assets. More info here.

Our PEERS group also got to visit the office is new-ish member Dian Svendsen at River Crossing Art Therapy. Contrary to what the title might suggest art therapy is not therapy for artists… but rather therapy through art without the need to be “artistic”.

Dian hosts groups looking for personal and/or professional development; as well as individuals working through various stages and events in their lives. More info here.

And today we had speakers (new-ish member) Susan Binder and Jeff Mills (State Farm represented in PEERS by Tara). Susan is an interior designer with Let’s Get Comfortable. Her business name stems from the concept of making your home the place you want to live for a looooong time. 🙂 She recently hosted an event on “Building a Better Bedroom” to turn your place of rest into a ‘serene oasis’. In her practice being sustainable is a large priority; not only for our planet but also for your wallet. Re-using materials in the same or different room can make a substantial impact on your financial ability to improve your home and space. You can learn more about Susan and her interior design here.

Tara brought in Jeff Mills to give us a brief run down of long-term care insurance. With the Baby-Boomers beginning to reach retirement age the issue of long-term care and living facilities for them has come to the forefront of many peoples’ minds. In Oregon alone the average cost of an assisted living facility is about $205/day. Yikes! There are also a lot of misconceptions about how one might pay for such care so it’s very important that you speak with your insurance agent about options for yourself or a loved one. More info here.

That’s all for now… see you next week!