No Fooling!

   A few weeks ago my husband and I traveled to a most remarkable place. A beautifully landscaped utopia where you can play golf free every day on any one of 22 courses. On any given day you can choose from over 1000 activities in which to participate. This 55-square mile wonderland has two town squares with live entertainment and dancing 365 nights a year. You can buy dinner for $5, daily drink specials for $2.01 and some evenings enjoy free beer samples from the local brewery. Shopping includes all major stores plus a variety of unique boutiques. And best of all, you can do all of this without even owning a car.

   And it’s not all just fun and games. Every class in the local school system is “adopted” by a charity group. Most churches and synagogues operate in the black and are filled to capacity at every service. Last year one church alone gave $50,000 to World Hunger.

   I know, you think this is some kind of April Fool’s joke. But I was there and I experienced this phenomenon known as The Villages in central Florida. Also known as “Disneyland for Adults,” this retirement community consists of 48 separate villages, but residents can zip in their golf cart – many custom made to look like Rolls Royces or 57’ Chevies – to any facility or activity in the town.

   Coming home from this perfectly planned paradise to a county that grew out of control through all the success that rushed in to live here, I thought about what we might be doing to create a stronger sense of community. 

   New planned communities and mixed use developments are taking shape in Suwanee and Lawrenceville and with the prediction that in 2020, one third of Gwinnett’s population will be over 60 years old, great strides are being made with retirement communities from Del Web in Hoschton to Park Springs in Stone Mountain. 

   I see the CID is finally putting some meaning to all those “Gwinnett Village” signs along the roads. Shiv Aggarwal, the district’s chairman, said planting trees and flowers will show people that those who live and work there care. “We are looking forward,” he said. “We are building a home.”

   Our Community School and the County Extension Service offer hundreds of courses for lifelong learning and most schools have business partners, whose employees volunteer with such programs as HOSTS – Helping One Student to Succeed. 

   Maybe there’s no free golf, but we can taste free wine samples at Chateau Elan. And we have the opportunity to fill our churches and temples of every denomination to full capacity at every service. By the way, many of these churches – no fooling – serve Wednesday night dinners and Friday night fish fries at $5 a plate.

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