President, Eileen McNally called the meeting to order by introducing her theme for the meeting - Spiritual Fitness. After a brief story from Daily Guideposts, Eileen gave the invocation.
Everyone helped themselves to lunch from the buffet.
Janet Simross, vice president, introduced the speaker Dr. Amy Coble. Dr. Amy spoke about the various aspects of stress and how to deal with it.
Dr. Amy was asked to pick a name (all paid members) from the box so that we could award a $25 gift certificate. Ken Bagent’s name was chosen. Ken wanted his gift certificate for Texas Roadhouse. Our treasurer, Debby Shelly will get the certificate and mail it to Ken. Congratulations, Ken!
The December minutes and current treasurer’s report (see below) were available to those in attendance. No corrections or questions were floored. Both will be officially filed.
Treasurer’s Report by Debra Shelly
Checking-$1837.97
Savings-$1644.33
Scholarship-$11,197.66 ($10,000 Stauch fund + $1,197.66)
CD-$4,731.95 and our interest was $56.01
We gave St. Vincent $72.30
We collected $182.00 for our scholarship through dues ($60.00) and the collection ($122.00) at the December meeting. Debra filed the 990N form.
David Greene reported on the latest videos being shown regarding labor education.
Mary Ellinger reported that we still have almost 60 members who have not paid their 2016 dues. Efforts are underway to reach out to these individuals.
Eileen reported that a Pre-Retirement Seminar for active teachers is scheduled for April 7 at First United Methodist Church. Members were asked to bring snacks of any sort by 4 pm that day.
Eileen reported that she filed the required reports for ORTA. Of note is our volunteer hours. Last year we were honored with our report of over 26,000 hours. This year we turned in over 28,000 hours. Many thanks to David Greene for handling the collection of hours.
Attention was drawn to another way to volunteer. Carson Elementary is partnering with Bowling Green University to offer Project MORE, a volunteer reading mentoring project. Sign up packets were available to members who expressed an interest.
Eileen summarized our donations for 2015. In addition to actual items, LCRTA members contributed over $300 to St. Vincent de Paul, over $700 to our scholarship fund, $63 for the animal rescue and $53 for the baby pantry. LCRTA membership deserves a HUGE pat on the back for their wonderful generosity!
Under New Business, Eileen briefly told of ORTA’s interest for local chapters to participate in Habitat for Humanity projects. LCRTA had been searching for ways to participate in this endeavor when we heard about the horrible fire in Newark that completely destroyed two adjacent Habitat homes. Families were in the process of moving in when this occurred. The executive board recommended that LCRTA donate $1000 to the newly established Phoenix Fund that was set up to assist these two families. Paul Collier made a motion that $1000 be donated to the Phoenix Fund, second by Ken Bagent. After discussion, a friendly amendment was made to the original motion that required that we know how our donation would be used. Motion passed.
ASIDE: Eileen followed up and found that we could indeed stipulate how the funds were to be used. Eileen wrote a letter with the needed information and stipulations (use the money for household items i.e. beds, etc.). The letter along with a check will be sent to Habitat for Humanity. Eileen also sent a press release to The Advocate regarding our donation. It is hoped that the paper may want to follow up with us about our contribution.
Today, we collected $47 for the pantry and $104 for our scholarship.
Eileen concluded the meeting with remarks relating to Spiritual Fitness.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE IS A CHANGE OF LOCATION FOR THE APRIL 13th MEETING!
We will meet at Second Presbyterian Church 42 E. Church Street. Newark.