Happy New Year! We are kicking off the year with a new format to our monthly meetings, a topic that everyone can relate to, and a new, permanent meeting place. Please see details below. The MASWA Board looks forward to meeting you on January 24^th at 2:00pm. Have a wonderful, meaningful, and prosperous 2013!

JANUARY MEMBERSHIP MEETING

Happy New Year! I'm excited to begin a new year - 2013 has a lot of positive things to look forward to regarding MASWA activity:

• The Spring Luncheon Committee is busy planning and checking out speakers and other details for our event in May.
• In response to our recent membership survey, we've decided to utilize a central location for our monthly meetings and will have our first meeting there this month.
• Another change we've made in response to the membership survey is to change the format of our monthly meetings - we'll start with introductions and then break for 15 minutes of networking time prior to our speaker. Hopefully this will give everyone an opportunity to connect with other members and reach out to those you haven't met and would like to.
• Our new website is in the production stage and will be ready and usable in the first quarter of 2013. We're confident that our web designer has a great understanding of our needs, and that we'll have a user friendly website that will have value added benefits for our members including on-line registration and membership renewal capabilities, as well as updated membership info and current meeting information.      Stay tuned......
• We are exploring social opportunities to allow us to connect with present and future members.

Our plate is full and we are excited for what this year has in store for us. I want to encourage everyone to come to the January meeting early to meet the board. We'll be there to answer any questions you have and get to know you better. See you then!

Sharon Olwin is the "silent member" of the MASWA Board. Hired to handle the ongoing office work of MASWA in January of 2003, Sharon has assisted the board and membership in invaluable ways for years. When she started working with MASWA, she handled getting the newsletter printed and mailed to the membership (yes, snail mail), and maintained the membership database until recently when
it was put on the website.

Every fall, Sharon plays an integral part of making the Fall Aging Conference a huge success by receiving and tracking paper registration forms and checks, and combining them with online registrations on a database. She also creates name badges for hundreds of attendees, the vendors, speakers and the FAC Planning Team.

In August of 1996, Sharon started her business, Business Support Center. Working out of her home office, she provides various administrative support services to a selection of clients (including MASWA) on an as-needed/hourly fee basis.  

"The businesses I work with are all very different from each other, with very specific administrative needs," Sharon said. "It is rewarding to discover what they need help with, customize my service to their particular needs, and if necessary get training and learn new things to accomplish the tasks they require."

The Olwins moved this past summer to a new house they built on a farm located on the west shore of Fountain Lake south of Montrose, MN. Sharon and her husband have 4 adult daughters, and love spoiling their seven grandchildren. 

In her spare time, Sharon likes to spend long weekends on Lake Superior on their boat which is kept in a marina in Bayfield, Wisconsin. She also likes to read, travel, cook, enjoy music and a variety of the needle arts.

 After working with MASWA for ten years, Sharon says, "My favorite part of working with MASWA is definitely the members. They are a dedicated, supportive, caring group of people ... and, as a special bonus, lots of fun!"

Thank you, Sharon, for all the work you do to help make MASWA such a fabulous organization.

At the 2012 Fall Aging Conference, we collected 158 lbs. of canned foods that were donated to East Side Neighborhood Services. Thanks to all who participated!