Join Senior Connections for programs held on the second and fourth Mondays of each month throughout the year. All programs are curated by seniors and are open to members as well as the wider Santa Cruz community. All programs are free.

Since 2006, Senior Connections has been providing an eclectic mix of lectures, discussions, films, musical and dramatic performances, arts and health panels, rabbinic roundtables and annual luncheons. Visit with friends, make new friends and learn something new.

Call ahead if transportation arrangements are needed (see contact information below).

Programs are subject to change.

     1:30 - 2:00 PM   Nosh and Schmooze
     2:00 - 3:30 PM   Featured Presentation

Why not honor your loved ones with a donation to the Senior Connections fund and help us to continue these great programs twice a month? Senior Connections is a self-sustaining group within the Temple family. Our success is due to the support of people like you.

Oct. 14th-Fishwise

Can we protect the oceans and the communities that depend on them? A local approach goes global

Globally, three billion people rely on fish and fish products as their primary source of protein. Annually, over 112 million tons of fish are consumed by people world-wide, making seafood the world’s highest traded food commodity. The supply chains to deliver this popular and, in many areas of the world, vitally important food source are often global, complex, and untraceable. As a result, some seafood is procured from illegal or unethical sources, within which human and labor rights abuses – and even modern-day slavery – exist.Presented by FishWise CEO Tobias Aguirre, this talk will include a clip of the powerful and moving film “Ghost Fleet”, produced by Vulcan Productions, and present some on-the-water approaches to addressing social responsibility in seafood. The event builds on a past Temple Beth-El talk by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Martha Mendoza.

About Tobias Aguirre and FishWise

As a thought-leader in sustainable seafood, Tobias Aguirre is known for bringing diverse stakeholders into collaborative relationships in order to propel the sustainable seafood movement forward. To that end, Tobias serves on a number of advisory bodies and speaks at leading industry events, hosts panels with diverse topics and speakers, and contributes to many strategic initiatives that aim to scale environmental sustainability and social responsibility globally. Tobias grew up in Santa Cruz and holds degrees from Stanford University and UCSD’s School of International Relations and Pacific Studies. He was honored by the Monterey Bay Aquarium as a Seafood Watch Hero and was awarded the Spirit of the Alliance Award by the Conservation Alliance for Seafood Solutions.

Acknowledged today as one of the world's most effective organizations in empowering seafood companies to become champions of the oceans, FishWise, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, began in 2003 as a pilot seafood sustainability and training program with New Leaf Community Markets. Working closely with co-owner/founder Scott Roseman, two UCSC graduate students formulated the Green-Yellow-Red label display system to convey the Seafood Watch sustainability ratings to shoppers. In 2005, when Tobias took on his leadership role, FishWise was working with 10 retail stores in Northern California. Tobias led his team to build a scalable model of business engagement such that, at present day, FishWise is partnered with Albertsons Companies (2300+ stores) and Target (1800+ stores), and many other regional retailers and suppliers throughout the U.S., who have made and achieved some of the most ambitious commitments in the industry. FishWise now plays a significant role in creating, disseminating, and applying scalable solutions that have the potential for global impact