Some History: In his professional career, Murray Reich, a chemist turned psychologist, had found that, during their working lives, many men had not established friendships with other men that carried over into their retirement years. Men needed venues that would allow them to meet and befriend other men. Together with Harold Loew and Bernie Gerb, they convinced the Jewish Center of Princeton, of which all three men were congregants, to provide meeting space for just that purpose. To attract other men to these nonsectarian meetings, they planned a series of lectures on matters of common interest, initially focused on their own careers, and started meeting in the Jewish Center's library. So much did they then view themselves as a men's group that, at one meeting, a man stationed at the door stopped a female former mayor of Princeton from attending a meeting! That policy did not last long, and women are now welcome at all meetings.

They soon recognized that the greater Princeton area was a gold mine of highly qualified speakers, from universities, research labs, artistic centers, and a large pool of people who led interesting lives. As members of the community, these speakers were willing to volunteer their time and talents to speak to 55PLUS. The quality of the resulting lectures, which covered a wide range of subjects, quickly attracted much larger audiences, and the Jewish Center made its large social hall available to 55PLUS for its meetings rent free. Meeting attendance grew from about twenty at the group's inception to an average of 175 - 200, with a maximum of over 400, by the arrival of the COVID pandemic. In exchange for the use of the social hall and its facilities, 55PLUS makes substantial contributions to the Jewish Center, largely from suggested donations attendees make at each meeting.

The COVID pandemic brought major problems for 55PLUS. In early March 2020 they were forced to cancel all meetings and only resumed in June 2020 using Zoom. Not until the next year were they able to have hybrid meetings, with live audiences as well as Zoom. With the quality of the talks and the variety of the programming unchanged, these hybrid meetings now typically draw an audience, live and on Zoom, of 100 -150.

55PLUS now: 55PLUS has always been staffed entirely by volunteers, both men and women. It used to be a joking maxim that once you volunteered for a job, you couldn't leave until you found a replacement. There is an overall leader, a volunteer who simply steps up to do the job at the request of other volunteers. Apart from the leader, there is a wide variety of roles staffed by volunteers, e.g., treasurer, programming, audio/visual, publicity, webmaster, database manager, managing the mailing list, etc. Selecting and scheduling speakers is performed by a small Speakers Committee led by two co-chairs.

55PLUS meetings, which last from 10:00 a.m. to about noon, are typically on the first and third Thursdays of each month, from September through June. They are normally hybrid meetings, live in the Jewish Center and on Zoom, except for January and February meetings which are only on Zoom. The Zoom-only winter meetings allow 55PLUS to schedule non-local speakers from around the world, and eliminates problems of inclement weather for live attendees at meetings.

There is a suggested contribution of $5 per meeting for all attendees. The major part of each meeting is devoted to a 45-to-50 minute talk, followed by a lively Q&A session with a highly engaged audience. It remains a goal of 55PLUS to increase live attendance to meet its initial mission of providing a venue for socializing.

55PLUS is alive and kicking at 40.

More information about 55PLUS and its current programming is available at their website https://princeton55plus.org

Al Friedes