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Dear community member,

Among the joys of older age is having the freedom to explore interests that were earlier crowded out by career, jobs, children, and household responsibilities. For many of us, this includes studying new fields, and sharing the journey with others. It is fulfilling, bringing the satisfaction that rewards effort, and the joy of connecting with a like-minded community.

It is also an effective antidote to the isolation and loneliness that can plague many older people. What’s more is that studies show that the intellectual exercise involved in reading, research, presenting and discussing can forestall cognitive decline.

At the McGill Community for Lifelong Learning, we are lucky to have a cadre of learned members, many with expertise and knowledge honed over years at work in various fields, academic and otherwise. We count on this group of volunteers to deliver lectures and moderate study groups that meet the test of academic rigor.

Three terms a year—spring, fall and winter—over a thousand seniors sign up for more than a hundred study groups and lectures, meeting in-person and online, to learn and discuss topics ranging from ancient civilizations to modern literature, as well as practical issues related to health and ageing.

While MCLL is sustained by its unpaid volunteers and the modest fees charged for study groups and lectures, it does need donations to sustain itself. That’s where you come in.

By donating to MCLL, you will be supporting a community of, by and for seniors who learn, share and grow together. You will sustain upgrades to our classrooms, equipping them with state-of-the-art presentation and online communications technology.

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This year, we are focusing on 3 main initiatives:

1. We are seeking funds to help our hearing-impaired participants by offering them assistive listening devices, and microphones for classroom presentations. Your donations will also support tests to detect early signs of hearing loss among our members.

2. We also seek to enhance MCLL’s hybrid learning facilities by buying smart boards, web cameras, and noise-canceling microphones. This will bring peer-learning to people whose restricted mobility keeps them at home.

3. Donations will help us remove online and physical barriers to entry by revamping our website to be more user-friendly and accessible to participants over age 65, while also refining the signage in and around our classrooms.

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We’re proud of our work and its result: a strong community of seniors young enough in spirit to learn new things and make new friends. We think you’ll be proud to support it too. That’s why we are asking for your support.

Thank you and kind regards,

Christopher Neal
President, McGill Community for Lifelong Learning

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Thank you for considering a gift to the McGill Community for Lifelong Learning (MCLL). There are several ways to give:

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