Yankee Trails

02 D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 8 The Villages ® Community yankeetrails.com | 352.633.4643 T C L U B O F T H E M O N T H The Traveling Villagers Contact Kelly McKiever at kmckiever@yankeetrails.com For more info, visit travelingvillagers.wildapricot.org Would you like your group to be featured as Club of the Month? he Traveling Villagers of Florida is a social club unlike any other in the area, connecting village res- idents with both one other and the unexplored world. Founded in fall 2016 by original president Shirley Bevan, villagers with travel interests have met in the Moyer Recreation Center on the second Monday of every month since. Traveling Villagers host speakers and display presentations each month for their growing member- ship of nearly 200. With help from the Executive Board, new oppor- tunities are constantly presented for traveling villagers, whether their destination be Tuscany or Tampa. Current president Darrell Coppock says club membership is far from capped, though, as all 120,000 villagers are invited to attend a meeting before paying membership fees. For those with a passion for travel, an initial year- long membership is only $15. Even better, the fee drops to $10 after that first year. By granting like-minded travel- ers of the Villages a communal meeting space, the club allows for endless bonds to be creat- ed. Residents form friendships at The Traveling Villagers, and many end up as travel mates pro- moting their future excursions to the club. In the same sense, members often return from trips to share insight and experiences with others, a chain reaction that reveals the community aspect of The Traveling Villagers. Not only does the club gather like-minded people with a desire to travel, it creates opportunity and experi- ences. The club does not sell va- cations or trips itself, so creating such opportunity for its members is at the center of its success. Two subgroups that derived from The Traveling Villagers, a river-cruising crew and a single traveler's bunch, highlight the purpose of the club's communal impact at The Villages. By uniting those with like-minded interests, true passion can be found, while also finding friends along the way. Respecting and understanding Villager freedoms, passions, and dreams, the club is able to find a niche for every resident in the community.

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