Call to mind Deborah Kerr singing “Getting to Know You” in the 1956 film The King and I: “Getting to know you, Getting to know all about you. Getting to like you, getting to hope you like me.” Now you have an idea of what the first SOAR LLI Summer Get Together was about.

Twelve SOAR members got to know all about each other at Blue Hat Coffee in Farmington on July 11. SOAR volunteers Elizabeth Urban and Marilyn McKinney hosted the get together, and it was coordinated by Executive Director Debra Yamstein and Program Assistant Constance Bush.

SOAR members Joe Gromala and Barb Feldman were at the get together, and both said they enjoyed getting to know other members.

“I learned a lot about Mrs. McKinney who is very active, and she is in her 80s,” said Gromala who has been a SOAR member for over 10 years. “She told me quite a bit about her situation. She’s been a widow; her husband was a physician. If that was the objective to get to know somebody there, then the objective was met. I spent 80 or 90 percent of my time conversing with Mrs. McKinney because I sat next to her. I had a very nice conversation sitting next to Mrs. McKinney. A very delightful lady.”

Feldman said that the get together “was a nice meeting.” Feldman has been a SOAR member for about 10 years and has volunteered on the Curriculum Committee.

“I met new people,” said Feldman. “I didn’t know who Elizabeth was. In general, I could tell you a lot about Elizabeth. She is a delight. She is an expat, spent 30 years in Poland. Very interesting, gregarious woman, charming.”

Urban, who also volunteers on the Curriculum Committee, lives in downtown Farmington and said that a reason she picked Blue Hat Coffee for the get together is to get to know SOAR members who live nearby.

“The whole point is to get to know more people who live around you,” said Urban. “For this time, it is near Eight or Nine Mile and Farmington, or Drake and Grand River. I want to know who lives near me. And then maybe when it comes time, you can drive together to The Hawk.”

It was Urban, and members in a SOAR focus group, who had the idea of SOAR members getting together and getting to know each other during the summer.

“This was the idea behind it,” said Urban. “At one time, I lived abroad in Poland. I had a foreign ladies club, maybe 600, or 500 ladies, to get people to know each other in different parts of the city. Anybody could come but we meant it for people to get to know each other.

“So, I said to Deb, how about during summer when it is more quiet, kind of organize something for different parts of the city. Anyone can come — from West Bloomfield, Ann Arbor – anywhere, but I want to get to know people who live around me. Once a month meet people who are also in SOAR and who live around the corner.”

Then, it was in June, SOAR held focus groups to find out how to better serve the membership. According to Yamstein, it was in these focus groups that “members expressed interest in more social opportunities.”

“I sent an email to all active members to see who might be interested in ‘hosting’ a get together,” explained Yamstein. “Elizabeth volunteered to host the first one.”

Then McKinney, who is on the Winter Curriculum Committee and part of the Ambassadors Program, also volunteered to host the get together.

Blue Hat Coffee, which opened in November 2023, is on the first floor of the Masonic Lodge Building. Urban listed the reasons why she says it was “just perfect” for the get together.

“Casual, real high ceilings, square tables that you can move around, and can be pushed together,” Urban said. “Nothing real fancy. They have an outdoor area, and they have a parking lot right next to it.

“And they don’t care if you sit around. They aren’t going to throw you out.”

The next member get together will be announced soon. If you are a SOAR member interested in joining or “hosting” the get together, email the office to get on the email list.

To get you in the mood for the next one, watch Kerr singing “Getting to Know You” in The King and I.