SAIL Member Story-Maria Cristina

Sandra Keil, daughter of SAIL member Maria Cristina, was recently kind enough to raise $120 through a charity grilling event, an amount which will be matched by her employer, GE. 

Sandra also shared a lovely story about what SAIL means to her and her family: 

“I moved to the USA 20 years ago, I came to Madison to study English and then went to Edgewood College to obtain an MBA. I married Brad and we live in Middleton My brother, Camilo, followed me to Madison and now works and lives in Dubuque, Iowa with his family.

My mom (Maria Cristina (Cris)) moved from Bogota , Colombia where we are from 7 years ago (11/11/11). She had been coming to visit Madison since I moved here and with her yearly visits she was able to know the city and some people but moving here permanently is different that coming to visit. Being close to the family especially her grandkids was her main motivation. Once she established in Madison (different language and completely different weather for sure 😊) and as active as she is she realized she needed more activities to stay socially and intellectually engaged.

My mom is a retired Language and Hispanic Literature Professor from Colombia; her personality, as well as her career, kept her always socially active. When she moved to Madison, she realized that it was a personal need for her to stay busy and still independent. My husband found out about SAIL at a Middleton Optimist Club meeting. We read more about it and thought it was a great fit for my mom. She has been a member since 2017 and she enjoys the events and activities that SAIL offers. We are really happy to see my mom engaged and active and we appreciate the opportunity SAIL offers her.  We are so grateful for this contribution! 

Do you have a great SAIL story to share?  E-mail meghan@sailtoday.org or call us at 608-230-4321 and we’ll put it on our blog!