HEALTH EXPO

On Thursday, October 7,2010, 9:30 a.m.to 2:30 p.m. the Ormond NARFE Chapter 2247 will participate in the Fifth Annual Community Health Expo sponsored by the Ormond Beach Presbyterian Church,105 Amsden Road, Ormond Beach, Fl. The focus of the Expo will be on Health and Wellness with Exhibits and Presentations. Flu shots will be available free with Medicare. Our Chapter will stress quality of life after civil service and also will recruit and counsel members and prospective members.

CAFÉ 101, A GREAT BUFFET

The Chapter has an opportunity to have a group lunch (buffet) at Café 101, Daytona State College at 1200 W. International Speedway Blvd, on March22, 2010. The cost of the Buffet is $11.00. Those members who would enjoy an excellent lunch in a very nice atmosphere in the company of other Federal retirees are encouraged to reply to this message or call Cece at 672-5827. We hope to make the reservation for twenty people if we can confirm that number by the end of the February meeting.

Make your reservation now.

OUTREACH PROGRAM

When the Chapter applied for a grant from the Federation to conduct a combined membership drive and public relations project we had only the Senior Epo in mind. Before the grant was approved we had the opportunity to expand our plan to include at least one health fair at the Volusia Mall. About the same time we began thinking of including active Federal employees in our activities. A natural choice was the Postal Employees, since we had several retired postal worker as members already. So the final plan included Senior Epo’s, Health fairs, and an unnamed active which would be the choice of the Postal Workers.

The first two activities went off as planned. Including the Postal Employees was another story. Numerous attempts were made to negotiate with the leadership of the locale Post Officers with no success. The latest attempt was to invite the Post Master of the Williamson office to our next Chapter meeting. The last word was that the Post Master was on sick leave and his substitute wasn’t available at the hour of our meeting.

As the saying goes a miss is as good as a mile. We need a new plan. We will continue to try to reach the postal workers, but it is obvious that it can’t be done from the top down. Our efforts will have to be from the bottom up. If every member tries to approach his own mailperson by giving that person a NARFE magazine and a Chapter Newsletter that will be a beginning to a more lasting relationship.

Matching Funds and Dedication

Fellow Chapter member I am pleased to announce that the Federation has favorable supported our Project of Out Reach by forwarding our reqest for additional funds to NARFE NATIONAL.

I will be asking many of you for your support of time and dedication to bring this project to the community in a way that we can be proud of the results. A few members only can not make this a success. We need the support of the entire Chapter.

To: Chuck Timanus

Director, Public Relations

NARFE Headquarters

606 N. Washington St

Alexandria, VA 22314-1914

From: Wallace Roepke

Fl Federation President

5997 Bonaventure Place

Sarasota, Fl 34243-4811

Subject: Matching Funds Request for Florida's Ormond, Beach Chapter 2247

Dear Chuck: Attached you will find three pages of a request from the Florida Ormond Beach Chapter 2247 for matching funds for $891, the amount they anticipate will be spent on this project. The Fl Federation Chapter Assistance Program has already approved $200 for this project leaving a balance of $691. Participation in the Senior Expo's is an excellent way to let both active and retired Federal employees and annuitants know about NARFE. This project has been carefully reviewed and appears to be viable.

I have approved the request as presented.

Respectfully, Wallace Roepke, Fl Federation President

Board Meet September 14, 2009

We have received a Grant from the NARFE Florida Federation for $200. This money is to be used for recruiting new members and PR. June was charged with depositing the check and keeping a running account of expenses written against the Grant.

John will hold off on the contract for Senior Expo. John should also order new material and the NARFE PANNEL from NARFE. We have the flag, but we should order the NARFE banner. We might have a drawing for a restaurant gift card. Bob asked us all to come up with ideas for giveaways.

The list Charlie Shannon sent to Bob shows people in our District 3 who have not signed up for dues withholding. The people who need to be contacted are 1 members who come to the meetings, 2 people getting email but don’t come to meetings, 3 people whose yearly dues is expiring soon (Lee will call them) , 4 all others on the list. Each of the board members got a copy of the list. We decided we did not want Charlie to take care of the notifying our members, because the different groups required different approaches. Between now and Christmas we will contact the people whose yearly dues is expiring and suggest they continue their membership with the dues withholding program. The others will wait until after the increase in dues is all settled.

Senior Association and Coalition on Aging will be meeting October 6^th at 10 AM at the United Way building: 3747 International Speedway Blvd. , Daytona Beach.

Ormond is having a Health Fair and we discussed the possibility of it being a good place for us to possibly get new members. It will be at the Presbyterian Church on Amsden Rd. Ormond Beach October 13^th . It might be good practice for bigger events.

We thought Alice should Chair the Christmas party at Oceanside, and invite Nancy Lohman as our guest. Due to the problems in the past we need in writing from Oceanside exactly what we are getting for our luncheon. It will cost $21.00 and there will be a choice of two meals. Cece will ask Marguerite to contact the musicians to be sure we have a firm date. We will also ask to have the musicians play some musical games and have a sing-a-long.

Cece will order 6 cobblers for future events and we will see about having them embroidered or implanted with our NARFE logo.

Lee is in touch with Robin from the Post Office. We want to invite the Postmaster or Union Leader to come talk to us. We will provide luncheon.

Respectfully submitted by,

Cece Dougherty V.P.

RECRUITMENT FOR NARFE

Ed Fleck, Federation Membership Chair has asked each chapter to add the following statement in their next chapter newsletter:

RECRUITMENT FOR NARFE

Recruitment is a contact sport. We are NARFE members because we believe in the mission of NARFE. It is that belief that should cause you to always be on the lookout for new members. NARFE is an advocacy organization that protects and hopefully enhances the EARNED retirement and health insurance benefits of feds, both active or retired, and their families. NARFE has four lobbyists and two legislative specialists to advocate for us with Congress. NARFE's clout is based on the size of our membership. That is why we need to be constantly recruiting new members, because, due to our aged membership, we unfortunately lose many members each year. Always have a membership form and dues withholding form with you for "when the moment is right." Joining costs $33 and includes our monthly NARFE Magazine with its great Q&A section. Don't let a recruiting opportunity pass you by -- give NARFE a plug (and an application). Be sure to put your membership # on any applications you hand out as our chapter receives a $2 "commission." If you recruit an active fed, you personally receive $8. Again, recruitment is a contact sport.

This statement was originally prepared by Richard Carroll D2VP who sent it to his chapter presidents.

Thanks for all you do,

Charlie Shannon D3VP

RETENTION

Three Chapter members, Mary Araya, Cece Dougherty, and Bob Wehrli attended a District 3 meeting chaired by Charlie Shannon , the District 3 Vice President. Many topics were discussed including Recruitment, Retention, Public Relations, Finance, and Membership Services. The Chapter has included most if not all of these in our plans. The importance of three of these concerns warrants a closer look. Membership Service, Recruitment and Retention are presently all under Membership which has served us well in the past. However; each one of these requires a great deal of time and devotion. So much so that together they are almost too much for one individual.

Both Mary Araya and Cece Dougherty have analyzed attendance records to determine who comes to meetings. Cece has the Phone Committee and gets information on the well being of members and their needs. Lee Sherman has followed up on M112’s andM114’s.

Lee Sherman has done a great job of keeping track of the membership as a whole and following up on members who have forgotten or questioned their dues. She calls these people or in some cases written to them. Lee has also done a great job with service for both members and non members. Lee has also recruited more members than anyone else in the Chapter and has signed up more members to Dues Withholding.

All three ladies will be asked to continue in their present positions and continue just as before. However, Cece Dougherty will be asked to assume the role of Retention Chairperson. Lee will be Membership/Recruitment Chairperson. Mary will continue to establish who attends meetings as part of her duties as Secretary.

The recognition of Retention as a separate function and our effort to collect data should contribute to the over all function of the Chapter.

EXECUTIVE BOARD

NARFE, Chapter 2247

Ormond Beach, FL

Minutes of Meeting of Executive Board

Monday, August 10, 2009

Present: Bob Wehrli who presided, John Lowe, Cece Dougherty, Mary Ann Whitaker, Marguerite Hiemenz, June Griffin, and Mary Araya

Upcoming issues discussed and agreed upon for action by the membership:

1. Proposed Changes to by-laws -

Article VIII - Voting and Elections

As is:

Section 3. The Nominating Committee shall present an approved slate of officers at the November meeting for election and installation at the Annual Meeting in January. Nominations may be made from the floor.

As revised:

Section 3: The Nominating Committee shall present an approved slate of officers at the April meeting for election and installation at the Annual Meeting in May. Nominations may be made from the floor.

Article VI - Nominating and Membership

Section 2: (As revised:) Nominating, Membership and Internal Auditing

2. Charlie Shannon is calling a meeting of chapter presidents at the Woodland Towers in Deland on Wednesday, August 26 from 12:30 to 2:30 for informal discussion on current topics relevant to our membership: health care, single dues, etc. Cece Dougherty, Bob Wehrli and Mary Araya will attend this meeting.

3. John Lowe completed forms for the chapter to apply for grant monies from the federation to assist with the cost of recruitment activities, in particular to prepare for and man a booth at the Senior Expo at the Ocean Center on November 4th and 5th. Bob Wehrli signed and expedited the grant request.

4. Cece volunteered to make copies of the Chapter newsletter at the Office Depot each month. Since this was one of Bob’s lest favorite chores, the news has made him ecstatic… He thanked Cece profusely.

5. The list of speakers was reviewed. It was suggested by Bob that, as part of our recruitment effort at the local post office, a union official be invited to speak at one of our meetings. The rationale would be to show the postal union that as their efforts are to ensure present benefits of postal workers, NARFE works hard to ensure retirement benefits of government workers.

6. Cece did extensive research to compile a list of Chapter 2247 members’ e-mail addresses. This update will result in more members receiving the monthly newsletter by e-mail and lessening the cost of monthly mailings.

7. The issue of the single dues referendum will be taken up at the September meeting of members. A national vote is to take place in December.

8. President Bob Wehrli has readied a voting form for members to use at the informal group meeting at the Olive Garden on Monday, August 17th. This vote will determine where our chapter will meet for its regular monthly meetings.

PROSPECTIVE NARFE MEMBERS

The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (P.L. 111-31) requires that newly hired federal employees will be automatically enrolled in the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) and will be eligible to receive an immediate matching contribution from their employing agencies. In addition a “Roth”-type option can be added to the plan, which would allow participants to make after-tax contributions to TSP accounts and withdraw their earnings tax-free upon retirement. Furthermore, the law allows the new federal employees to invest their accounts in mutual funds outside the investment funds currently offered by the TSP.

Pass this information on to relatives who may be seeking federal employment either now or in the future. These workers are our future NARFE members.