Marshalltown residents curious about the solar partnership between Alliant and the YMCA/YWCA will have an opportunity to learn more on Aug. 4, courtesy of the Creative Retirement group.
The group will host a free open house at 9:30 a.m. in Iowa Valley Conference Center room 608 of the Marshalltown Community College campus. YMCA CEO Kim Jass-Ramirez and Alliant Account Manager Amanda Accola with Alliant will speak about the partnership. Attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions afterward.
Julie Thomas, the community and workforce education coordinator for Iowa Valley Business and Community Solutions said the open house is being held to gain interest in Creative Retirement.
“Not a lot of people know about this group,” she said. “We were remote more recently and are starting to build the program back up. We want to create awareness.”
Thomas said the open house will also give people a chance to talk about the unique solar Alliant/YMCA partnership. The project the businesses are working on will build 1,200 solar panels on four acres of land owned by the YMCA. The panels will generate clean energy for the local grid, and are estimated to produce enough electricity for 95 homes.
Sandy Bennett, a member of the Creative Retirement council, has been involved with the group for the last 10 years. She suggested the group learn about the solar project after reading about it in the Times-Republican.
“Our programs are centered around things happening in the city, the county, hobbies people have,” Bennett said. “Then I call people to see if they are willing to come and talk about it.”
She said there has been a wide array of subjects discussed and learned about at the bi-weekly meetings. Bennett said there are no limit on topics for discussion, and that the group does not take any stances. The meetings and conversations are just for discussing different subjects and hearing various opinions.
Other topics previously discussed at Creative Retirement include the history of newspapers, global famine, green burials, beekeeping and more. One meeting which stood out for Bennett revolved around taxidermy. Members were shown, step-by-step, how to taxidermy a duck.
“Last week we had a member talk about the Cuban Missile Crisis,” she said. “We just cover all types of topics.”
While the Aug. 4 open house is free, Bennett said there is a $25 annual fee to join Creative Retirement. The group began in 1997 as a program of, by and for seniors citizens to continue learning and stay active.
