Resident's Activities Committee

Do you work with an Activities Committee in your retirement community? I do! It is a committee that is created through our Resident Board and serves to support me and to report to the community what  exactly is going on in the activities department. Most likely you will not have a say in who is on your committee, so how do you make the relationship work for everyone? Below are a few key points so you can be successful with your activities committee.

• Get to know your chairman well. It will go a long way for you.
• Get to know the residents on your committee. They will be the extension of your department in so many ways. What are their personal strengths and weaknesses? Interests? Abilities?
• Remind the committee that they are your eyes and ears from the community for anything related to your department. The committee is not for sharing their personal wants, opinions, etc. unless they are supported by others in the community.
• When meeting your committee for the first time, share with them how you plan your calendar - time frames, categories of activities, policies and procedures you work with and any thing else that would get your group on the same page you are on.
• Have a monthly meeting with the committee that is scheduled in advance and run it professionally. Here is what I do in my meeting:
• Review the activities that happened since our last meeting and get their feedback (including the evaluations of entertainers that I value immensely.)
• Share the activities that will take place the following month
• Create a handout for them to take away from the meeting that shows the upcoming programs that are being discussed.
• Ask for the committees input on the following months activities
• Discuss what volunteers are needed in the upcoming month to run the programs better
• Ask for suggestions and comments about anything that has happened in the past month or that they want to see in the future.
• Stay in good communication with your committee members.
• Don't take them for granted
• There will be people in the group who want to attend the meetings to get the scoop of what is coming up before the rest of the community - and who are not interested in volunteering in any other way..... just realize that and don't be upset when they won't take on any extra jobs.
• There will be people in the group who will want to run the whole show. Remind them that they are on the committee to support your department.
• There will be people in the group that will be interested in staying busy. Give them jobs to do,
• No matter who the resident is on your activities committee and what they do for your department, it is important to THANK THEM OFTEN, not just at your annual volunteer appreciation events. (Here is another volunteer appreciation idea.)