Coronavirus Update: Due to the COVID19 pandemic outbreak, all meetings have been moved online. For information on upcoming virtual events, please join our ALDA San Jose Facebook group or mailing list to get announcements.
ALDA San Jose normally has two events a month barring overlap with major holidays. Generally it’s about 20 group events a year. Normally 3-4 of these events are official group meetings where we discuss issues relevant to people with hearing loss and conduct group business. The rest are social events which can take many forms. A good number of them are simply dinner and a movie or lunch to chat and catch up, but there are several popular events we try to hold every year and they tend to have the highest turnout. Some of these events include:
The Annual Holiday Party
Winery Picnics
Other Annual events
Meetings
Meetings generally include presentations on topics relevant to people with Hearing Loss. Past meetings have covered topics like hearing dogs, captioned telephones and disaster preparedness. Meetings are always captioned so no need to worry about whether you will understand what is being said. Meetings and events generally occur the first and third Saturday of every month with meetings always scheduled for the first Saturday. We normally have an actual meeting about once a quarter.
The Annual Holiday party
The Holiday party is normally the biggest event of the year with attendance as high as 30 people. The highlight of the Holiday party is the optional “White Elephant” gift exchange where we encourage people to wrap up some unwanted item from home or an inexpensive item they purchased and place it on the gift table. Gifts are then chosen in order determined by random drawing but participants with later slots are free to “steal” gifts from previous selectors who are then forced to steal a different gift from someone else or go back to the table. In addition there are normally potluck parties centered around the Super Bowl, St Pat’s day and July 4th.
Winery Picnics
Winery picnics are always popular and like they Holiday party they are a potluck event. In past years the group has gone to Ridge Winery, House Family Vineyards, Pinchetti Winery and a few others. All of these are in the Cupertino foothills. It’s a fun time chatting, eating, drinking wine and having fun. You don’t have to drink wine to attend these events and obviously we discourage anyone from getting drunk since we have to drive home. Winery outings generally happen in the spring and fall, with weather and member preference dictating the exact dates. We’re always looking for new places to try so feel free to drop us a line with a suggestion.
Other Annual Events
Other regular events include bowling and attending a minor league baseball game in San Jose and like I said we tend to go to a lot of movies – which are always captioned. However, what the group is doing is always less important than the people we are doing it with. We are always willing to welcome new members with open hearts. We would love to meet you and get to know you better. No need to worry about not hearing or understanding. We all experience it. Feel free to say “What?” at anytime. No one minds repeating themselves. We all do it from time to time.
If you are interested in learning more about ALDA San Jose meetings and events please email us at aldasj.org@gmail.com
ALDA San Jose 