Corona del Mar Today: Busy OASIS president likes to ‘shake things up’
When Friends of OASIS President Kathy Stewart brought her two sisters from San Diego to visit the senior center for the first time, they were amazed.
“I had no idea,” one of them told her. “It looks like a junior college.”
The broad spectrum of opportunities that OASIS provides to the community, as noted by her sisters on that visit, also was the draw for Stewart.
“OASIS is academic, motivational, educational and recreational,” she said.
The Friends of OASIS Inc. is a nonprofit organization supporting the Corona del Mar senior community through the OASIS Senior Center. Stewart has served on the Friends of OASIS board since 2010 and was elected president in 2013.
The retired teacher moved with her husband, Ross, to the Balboa Peninsula from San Dimas in 2004. She discovered OASIS through the sponsored exercise classes it offered on 15th Street and followed when the center consolidated classes at the current facility.
It was during one of the exercise classes when former Friends of OASIS President Ed Romeo first noticed her and thought that she would make a good president.
“I heard a big noise at the back of the room and saw all these women talking, and at the center was Kathy,” he said. “Obviously, she was the leader.”
Romeo told her, “Anyone who makes as much noise as you do needs to be on the board.”
“She is energy and enthusiasm,” said Scott Paulsen, a Friends of OASIS board member and former president. “She brings fun and excitement to everything she does.”
Stewart says she has an aversion to “doing things the same way as in the past.”
“It’s good to shake things up,” she said.
For example, a serving of wine and beer was recently included in the entertainment portion of the monthly general meeting luncheon.
“It makes it so much more fun, more like a party,” she said.
Attendance at the general meetings has increased from 65 to 155.
The gift shop, which also supports OASIS programs, has undergone much-needed changes and is finally turning a profit, according to volunteer buyer Kathy Roberts.
Stewart says that thanks to Roberts, instead of looking like a museum, the shop now it has real merchandise to sell. It serves people who might attend an activity at OASIS and otherwise not have the ability to shop.
The volunteer job averages about 20 hours per week, peaking during fund-raising season. With the largest fundraiser of the year right around the corner, Casino Night on April 18, the group is hoping to raise $25,000.
Stewart says her middle name should be “Busy” because she has always had an excess amount of energy. For her, operating at what is considered the normal range for most people isn’t good enough.
Stewart, who is undergoing the final phase of chemotherapy for breast cancer, has been forced into the normal range during her “blah” weeks of treatment — or, as she calls it, “internal termite tenting.”
She considers herself lucky and wants to inspire people to stay up on their health checkups.
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High school nurse’s office to be remodeled
Corona del Mar High School soon will have a new nurse’s office.
The Newport-Mesa Unified School District board on March 24 approved paying $4,800 to Saunders + Wiant Architects for the design. The project will remodel an existing office and storage building for use as the new nurse’s office.
Construction will take place over the 10-week summer break, said Jim Lamond, the district’s director of facilities development.
The first phase will be to remodel an area for the attendance offices, which will move from the current building into the main administrative offices, he said.
“Then the current nurse’s office will be gutted and reconfigured,” he said. “All work in the nurse’s office should be completed before school starts in September.”
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Annual town meeting is set for April 22
Corona del Mar’s annual town meeting will take place April 22 at Sherman Library & Gardens, 2647 East Coast Hwy.
Residents are invited to attend and learn more about community projects ranging from the new library branch to a possible Corona del Mar bypass plan. The Corona del Mar Residents Assn. and Corona del Mar Business Improvement District are co-hosting the meeting.
The evening will begin with a Community Expo and social hour at 5 p.m. The expo will offer refreshments and tables with information about local organizations and projects.
The program will follow at 6 p.m. It will feature speakers from the Corona del Mar Business Improvement District and the residents association, as well as City Councilman Scott Peotter and city staff members.
Topics will also include the local coastal plan, business district projects including the MacArthur Boulevard and East Coast Highway entryway, and a parking study review. The audience will have an opportunity to ask questions.
The meeting is scheduled to end at 7:30 p.m. with door prizes.