Members of CALL have formed and participate in many different social activity groups. Membership is required to participate. See below for a list and descriptions of currently active groups.
Current Groups
- Biking- June 14-August 23, see below for specific dates
- Birding- Wednesdays, April 17-May 15, 2024
- Brass Ensemble- not meeting at this time
- Knitting- Wednesdays, 1-3pm, fall and spring
- Memoir Writing and Beyond (meets year-round)
- Support Group for Men Whose Wives have Dementia- meeting at Shawnee Park Christian Reformed Church
If you would like to join a group(s), or start a new group, please notify the CALL office at 616-526-8777 or call@calvin.edu.
Each group plans its own activities and sets the times for its meetings. Participants are required to be CALL members. The leader(s) of each group will provide notices to the CALL office about the activities of the group. These updates will be shared with the CALL membership through the website, e-news, email and the monthly CALL News.
The Birding Group -Wednesdays, April 17-May 15, 2024
Come walk the woods and enjoy God's amazing creation! Bill Sweetman leads our birding interest group.
We meet at the entrance (gatehouse) to the north parking lot on the east side of the East Beltline just north of the Bunker Interpretive Center at 8:15 weather permitting. If it is raining at meeting time we will not have an outing that day.
Outings typically last about an hour and a half, unless we go somewhere where there is significant driving time, then we may be out till about noon.
We carpool and share fuel expenses with the drivers.
In some cases, we walk up to a mile or two on well-developed trails or roads. Our first couple of outings will likely be to Reed's Lake, since that is the season for migrating ducks and early songbird migrants. Later outings will be to places like Aman Park and the Middleville bike trail. In some cases, we walk up to a mile or two on well-developed trails or roads.
email bsweettours@gmail.com with any questions.
Biking Group: Wednesdays, 9:30 AM start
The CALL program has a group of bikers who have enjoyed riding together in the past, and this year will we ride together again! All abilities are welcome, we primarily only ride paved biking trails, and we average about 11-12 miles per hour, so if you are a faster rider or have an e-bike, you are welcome to join us and ride ahead and/or ride longer distances. We will try to keep our scheduled rides about an hour long.
Our biking schedule will be as follows:
June 14, Friday 9:30 AM Rockford White Pine Trail. We will meet at the Rogue River parking area along the trail and just off Belmont NE and will bike to Rockford (or beyond) our first ride.
June 21, Friday, 9:30 AM TBD
June 28, Friday, 9:30 AM TBD
July 5 OFF
July 12, Friday, 9:30 AM TBD
July 19, Friday, 9:30 AM TBD
July 26, Friday, 9:30 AM TBD
August 2 OFF
August 9, Friday, 9:30 AM TBD
August 16, Friday, 9:30 AM TBD
August 23, Friday, 9:30 AM TBD
Please contact me at catenbri@gmail.com to be added to the interest list, and I will send out group e-mails each week giving that week’s location or asking for location suggestions, and to determine how many are able to ride each week. In the event of rain, we will not ride and I will send out an email that morning. Please feel free to contact me with any questions and to be added to the group! We are a friendly and non-competitive bunch!
Knitting Group: Wednesdays, 1:00-3:00 PM
We meet in the Youngsma Building, second floor, south end in conference room YC216. The building is north of the Prince Conference Center and the large student parking lot that borders the east side of the East Beltline. See the map link on the CALL main website page and look for parking lot #12.
The normal schedule for this group each semester (October- December and February - May) is Wednesday afternoons from 1:00-3:00 p.m. in the Youngsma Building (north of the Nature Preserve on the east side of the East Beltline) on Calvin's campus. All levels of knitters are welcome to join. To learn more please contact the knitting leader, Diane Noorman, at dnoorman@sbcglobal.net or 942-0046.
Memoir Writing and Beyond
Have you taken the CALL Memoir Writing Class? Have you been writing and need encouragement to continue writing? Join us, the CALL Writing Group. We are an interest group that meets year around, every two weeks to read and discuss what each of us has written. You write what you want. If you struggle, we help. Normally, the writings are 1-3 pages, to give everyone a chance to read.
You can polish your memoir skills, branch into other family stories (and there are a lot of them once you get started), do poetry, and write fiction. We laugh, we cry, we become friends. Your personal stories are held in confidence. We do a lot more laughing than crying in case you wonder. We have a regular core of writers who provide consistency.
The leader writes a weekly note to keep everyone on the same page (pun intended), and a reminder of our meeting time. As with all interest groups, feel free to come as you are able and contact the leader of this interest group if you plan to attend or have any questions. (A map of the campus is on the main page of our website.) The leader of Memoir Writing and Beyond is Karl VanDyke at karljvandyke@gmail.com or 616-340-7527.
Support Group for Men Whose Wives Have Dementia
CALL Support Group for Men Whose Wives Have Dementia has restarted after our year-long COVID interruption. The group meets at Shawnee Park CRC, 2255 Tecumseh Drive (or behind GR Christian High). The group welcomes newcomers. If you have questions or need more information, please contact Bob DeBruin at 989-506-8873 or debruinrf@gmail.com.
The Gardening Group
This group is currently looking for a person (or a few people) to plan activities.
In the 2009-2010 year the Gardening group visited Meijer Gardens to see the butterflies and listen to a talk by Lucinda Grover. Patricia Pennell from W.M.E.A.C. visited the group to speak about native plant and rain gardens. Other meetings included a time for a plant exchange with group members and visits to member's own backyard gardens. Randy Van Dragt led the group through the Calvin Nature Center and Rebecca Shilt spoke about plants and gardens.