Good Day everyone. There is a movement afoot in our great community to expand a group of residents that want to see Sun City return to its roots. What does that mean? It means making the members feel inclusive to the goings on within the community and providing space to gather. Have a space where people could meet and talk without needing to join a club, having an area for games and a big screen TV, perhaps a coffee bar or snacks? All of these are ideas for the gathering space that have been thrown out there for a starting point. What do you feel the space should have? Do you have ideas for location? How many hours a day should it be open? Can we depend on volunteers to help staff it and keep it open? There is also administrative issues to contend with as well. The other effort being talked about is a way to make new homebuyers feel welcomed and invited to participate in the area we call home, Sun City. How about bringing back the volunteers that would greet the people at the center and offer a color brochure of the RCSC facilities, but also speak to the value of the community and offer insights into the community these people purchased in. If it happens to be a Condo, have someone from the COA be there as well and welcome them to their unique lifestyle choice. Should we look for a way to organize a once a month coffee/tea for new members to get together and meet, share life stories, and learn more about Sun City and the surrounding area? Put together a team of welcome to Sun City hostesses/hosts that can be there to welcome folks, or be the source of information for those looking to purchase in Sun City? Be a welcoming voice of knowledge above and beyond what a realtor may have informed or not informed the potential buyer about. The gathering group has the potential to affect so many lives here in Sun City. The ability to create a greater good for all who live here is the goal for the group. Please join us and offer your voice and ideas so the group can grow and expand throughout the community to meet with our neighbors and be inclusive with each other. How about creating community barbecues for areas such as condo's or other small groups in a neighborhood? What ideas do you have? Please come and share your ideas, Thursday, August 21st between 3-5 pm, about what is listed and what should be added. We really need your voice and your butt in one of our chairs. They are padded by the way, so pretty comfy to sit in for our short gathering time. Please come and join us, you folks are the most valuable asset we have and we are most grateful for your participation.
Thanks for the reminder, Carole! Gathering meets at: Grand Center Sonora Room 10415 W Grand Ave Sun City, AZ 85351 (623) 561-4600 Thanks to the Sun City Foundation for arranging the location.
In the last meeting, Bill was kind enough to bring along photos from back in the day when 150 or so people would gather once a month for a coffee club social gathering to meet and greet their neighbors. No one made them come, they came because of the social networking and gathering the activity offered. Can you envision a coffee club getting together today? Just for the sake of enjoying each other’s company and having some good face to face conversation? in today’s world of cell phone cameras and saving the photos to the cloud, what interaction is there being made between people to share time and perhaps laughter and discussion? I would like to see a space where people can sit, either quietly or even better, share a hot beverage with a new person who can then become something more with conversations. A common area, a community meeting area can evoke many different ideas of what should happen within the space. Large screen TV, small tables available for sitting and doing puzzles or sharing some good conversation. Could a coffee type location using k-cups be a good idea, perhaps see about the cost of having a barista available at various times? Would you be willing to volunteer some of your time to help with the space or should this be considered a cost for the business? How many hours a day or days of the week should it be available? These are all very important questions for which need your assistance in creating a plan to achieve this type of experience here in Sun City. more to come later. Thank you Carole M
I would be remiss if I didn’t honor the fact those photographs offered for review and discussion are from the Del Webb Sun Cities Museum located here, in Sun City. There is so many treasures to be found in visiting the museum, a cornucopia of memories and photos and objects from our past. Thank you Bill for sharing these great memories with the group. The other topic brought forward was how we treat new homeowners once they purchase here. The amount of money it costs to buy into the RCSC is a large chunk of change. At one time, there were hostesses (and to be fair to the modern scheme of things, hosts) who would be available for the new buyer or the perspective buyer, to offer information about the community. These people spoke to the buyers from their heart as to what the Sun City life meant to them. They offered information about the local community as well as what was happening within Sun City white walls. Recreating this group could be such an asset to the community. Where does a perspective homebuyer usually get information about this community. From the realtor? There are some dedicated Sun City realtors, such as the Nixon’s who make it a point to be informed about the community. But more often than not , the realtor knows how to sell a property, but knows little about the community. Wouldn’t it be great to establish a group of people who volunteer their time to meet homebuyers and inform them about the great community they bought into? Do you know that many buyers are not even aware of the membership card and what that offers each RCSC member? How about instead of a stack of black and white copies, you were offered a free color brochure highlighting Sun City and most of what it offers? What if COA also got involved and helped them welcome new shared roof buyers? The ability to expand this program is only limited by ones imagination.
Recent comment about the community Gatherings: “…can't thank you enough for sharing this. The whole Sun City world needs to know and, hopefully, be there.” Please join your neighbors in discussion about ways to improve our Sun City sense of community together! Top of mind: • A community social area. A comfortable get away place to stop in for relaxing activities, meeting new friends, casual conversation and more as ideas evolve. Not a club, an OUR PLACE where everyone belongs! • WELCOME TO SUN CITY effort to acknowledge and help assimilate new homeowners as valued MEMBERS of our unique community. Opportunities to connect and learn more about what Sun City offers than what realtors and Card Services may have only provided. Great ideas are formulating! YOUR ideas are needed! Hope you’ll participate and share at the upcoming Gathering on Thursday, August 21st, 3pm: Grand Center Sonora Room 10415 W Grand Ave Sun City, AZ 85351 (623) 561-4600
As good as those photos are, as much as they tell a story and as much as they are our path forward, the words from the grave were far more compelling to me. I realized as i read them, no one was aware of why they were so impactful. Even after explaining, most were mystified by both the source and the true meaning that sounded from the short paragraph i read. Imagine, Sun City residents speaking to us from their graves. In November of 2026, we will be opening the time capsule buried in the base of Liberty Bell. It was sealed inside to be revealed to those of living in this amazing community. There's a variety of items in the base with none more powerful than the letters to the residents reading those words come Nov of 2026. They are stunning in nature, scope and the expectations of what they built and what they hoped we would carry on to fruition. Did we live up to their expectations? Did we take what they gave us and make it everything we could and should be? We are within 15 months of finding out. More than ample time to rebuild, rebrand and reboot a community that fell off its mark and tried to become like all the others. It simply didn't work. We weren't built like the others and hence the choice to become like them was shortsighted and doomed to fail. We aren't that far off task, but clearly we have work to do. The question is an easy ask: Are we up to it? Hoping to see many of you Thursday Aug 21 at the Sonora Room, Grand Center. Starting time is 3 pm and we'll have you home in time for dinner (assuming you don't eat at 4 pm). Gotta love those early bird specials eh?
