UNC Asheville’s Center for Creative Retirement gets $2 million endowment from Osher

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Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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UNC Asheville’s well-known and nationally respected N.C. Center for Creative Retirement was recently awarded a $2 million endowment from the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.

The Center for Creative Retirement is known for its courses targeting older residents seeking to continue their education, broaden their leadership skills and much more. Really, the things you can enjoy in retirement are wide ranging and exciting, so it’s a time of life we should all look forward to. It should’t be a period of life that you are dreading. As long as you prepare for retirement, there is no reason that your transition to retirement cannot be a positive and enjoyable one – check out these 9 considerations to make before you retire.
The Osher institute offers programs that fit with that mission.

Go here and scroll down to read a FAQ about the move. Here’s a sample:

Will we have to change our mission or vision?
No. The mission of the NC Center for Creative Retirement will continue to be “to provide opportunities to thrive in
life’s second half through learning, leadership, service, and research.” Each of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes
(OLLI), with programs “found on 117 campuses and universities from Maine to Hawaii and Alaska . . . provides a
distinctive array of non-credit courses and activities specifically developed for seasoned adults aged 50 or older who are interested in learning for the joy of learning.”
We will be a valuable part of the network because the leadership of the NC Center for Creative Retirement has always
been forward thinking and has always re-defined the possibilities of programming for older adults. We will continue to be able to break new ground in the kinds of programming we offer, and, with the full support of the funding we receive from the Foundation, we will have an additional potential stream of revenue to help us launch new programming.

Will we have to change the name of the Reuter Center?
No. The Reuter Center is the name of the building where the NC Center for Creative Retirement is housed and will
continue to be the name of our home when our organization is re-named. We know that our members worked
tirelessly to raise the funds to build a “place to call home.” We also know that our volunteers’ willingness to dream big and work hard has been part of what distinguishes the NC Center for Creative Retirement from many lifelong learning
programs that have to scramble to find space on crowded and busy campuses or who have to operate their programs
through a variety of scattered satellite sites. It’s worth remembering that the facility is named in honor of Irving J.
Reuter, a former General Motors executive who left his estate to establish the Janirve Foundation, a major building
fund contributor. We continue to be grateful for the support of the Janirve Foundation for the building and for their
establishment of an additional $1 million endowment for our organization, meant to maintain the building and to
support new programming. We may also keep names like “College for Seniors,” “Paths to Creative Retirement,” and
“Leadership Asheville Seniors.

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Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

  • 1

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