St. Paul Regional Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) invited seniors from the towns of St. Paul and Elk Point, and throughout the County of St. Paul, to their annual Christmas Seniors’ Festival last Wednesday.
The festival ran from mid-morning to early afternoon and included a sumptuous turkey dinner. Nine different seniors-serving organizations had information tables set up, and fraud prevention expert Julie Matthews gave a presentation on protecting yourself from scams.
Students from Racette School helped the afternoon run smoothly.
“Our reason for hosting this event is to promote connection and social engagement,” FCSS director Brenda Billo said in her welcoming remarks. “We desire to create awareness of the programs and services provided to older adults and help you develop the skills to support aging well in the community you call home.”
With 250 people in attendance, there was plenty of visiting and socializing.
Guest speaker Julie Matthews had been the consumer awareness “Troubleshooter” on Global TV for 10 years before working another 10 years as senior investigator with Service Alberta’s Consumer Investigations Unit.
She is currently a freelance speaker, and host of CFCW Radio’s weekly “Scam Alert” broadcast.
Matthews’ presentation covered a wide range of scams that seniors—and others—may fall victim to. These include email, online, and phone scams; door-to-door rackets; specific techniques such as grandparent scams and romance scams; and more.
The event took place at the Ukrainian Cultural Centre for the second consecutive year. It used to be held in a different community every year, but last year’s attendees agreed that it made sense to have it in St. Paul consistently.
This is a great idea! I would love to have contact information for Julie Matthew’s for the Bonnyville seniors centre.