Charlottesville Kiwanis Club Meetings Informative and Fun
by Jim Hart

The Kiwanis Club of Charlottesville offers a pleasant and cost-effective way to gain information and connect socially with civic-minded friends on a weekly basis. Meeting at the Elks Lodge every Monday evening (except the fourth) at 6:30 p.m., approximately 30 Kiwanians and their invited guests and potential new members gather for dinner, hear a short list of announcements, participate in a fifty-fifty drawing, and then share the very popular $Happy Dollar$. At 7:29 p.m., the program committee chair introduces the speaker, who always conducts a lively interactive discussion that ends promptly at 8 p.m. Pictured is Club President Norm Gutzler presenting a souvenir Kiwanis bell to Mandy Steiner, M.A., a graduate student in the Department of Clinical Psychology at the University of Virginia, who spoke to the Club at its meeting on February 16. Ms. Steiner is conducting a long-range study of the emotional and social functioning of older adults. Preliminary results of her investigation confirm what Kiwanians have known all along: participation in civic clubs and volunteer organizations such as Kiwanis contributes to healthy aging. Ms. Steiner and her colleagues in the program of sensory and systems neuroscience are documenting the influence of experience on learning and memory using anatomical, electrophysical, and behavioral techniques. There was enthusiastic response to her call for volunteers for her study, but many were disappointed to learn that strict age requirements of the study limited participation to only those between the ages of 65 and 75. Nonetheless, all in attendance wished her the best of luck in her studies and encouraged her to consider joining Kiwanis to experience the remarkable friendliness of this group of successfully aging adults who are passionate about serving the children of the world.