ORTA MINUTES
April 10, 2008
The April meeting of the Gallia
County Chapter of the Ohio Retired Teachers Association was held at the Courtside Grill meeting room. President Lois Carter
called the meeting to order. She welcomed "first timers" Ira Eggleton, Lola Napier and her daughter Brittina Green.
Barb Shelton recounted fond memories and many things Mrs. Napier taught her that she remembers to this day. Lola was her 6th
grade teacher as well as teaching English at GAHS. Henry Dillon gave the blessing and we all recited the Pledge of Allegiance.
While waiting
for the meal to be served we took care of business matters. Marlene Hoffman requested a donation to provide scholarships for
children to participate in the Gallipolis Parks and Recreation Department activities this summer. Five scholarships were funded
for a total of $175.
Lois distributed flyers giving information on Dan Vincent who is running for
a seat on the STRS board. He is endorsed by CORE (Concerned Ohio Retired Educators) and is committed to saving health care
for retirees as well preserving our pension. Retirees are not permitted to vote in the STRS board election but we were encouraged
to share the information on Mr. Vincent with our friends who are active teachers who will be voting in this election.
Karen Cornell,
volunteer chairperson talked about the importance of keeping track of any volunteer hours and went over a list of what does
and does not qualify to be counted as volunteer work. One of the areas in which we are lacking and need to work on is group-projects
that benefit the community. Several ideas were considered for this. Karen distributed forms for recording volunteer hours
and noted that lots of people do volunteer work but do not always think to write it down. She then presented an engraved plaque
to Marlene Hoffman for having the most volunteer hours for 2007, a total of 795 hours.
Wanda Willis reported the
scholarship committee has read applications and applied the written criteria to each application. She said the committee enjoyed
reading these applications immensely. The winners are: Terri Clagg-GAHS, Kayla Johnson-RVHS and Alexandria West-SGHS. The
scholarships will be presented at the June meeting. Henry Dillon reported the scholarship account only has $800. Historically
the scholarships have been in the amount of $350 each. A motion was passed to authorize the treasurer to transfer money from
the Local Life Savings Account in the amount needed to make up the shortfall.
After the meal we had several
speakers. Joe Moore stopped by and gave an impromptu report on the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. We contributed money
to this club last year. Vice President Barb Shelton introduced Angie Strait the new Youth Services Coordinator at the Bossard
Library. Ms. Strait gave an overview of summer activities for youth at the library. She noted they are always looking for
adult volunteers to help out with youth activities and encouraged us to consider serving as volunteers. She also distributed
a flyer announcing the Mother's Day Tea to be held on May 3 at the library.
Then Barb introduced Kristy Woodall of the RSVP (Retired & Senior
Volunteer Program). Kristy retired from teaching with 32.36 years in July 2007 and took the job with RSVP in January 2008.
She presented an overview of volunteer opportunities through this organization. Of particular note is the fact that if one
signs up with RSVP, mileage reimbursement for volunteer miles is available as well as liability coverage as secondary insurance.
She distributed folders with information regarding signing up with the RSVP. Susan Rogers, supervisor of the Gallia County
Chapter of RSVP made remarks praising Kristy for her excellent work. Ms. Rogers presented a door prize of a weather radio
from her organization. The criterion for this gift was the person who had taught in the most buildings during their teaching
career. Marlene Hoffman won this prize hands down as she was a traveling music teacher and has taught in many, many buildings
during her career.
The raffle for this month was live flowers arranged in a Yankee Candle which was won
by Jane Ann Slagle. Money from the raffle is used to defray costs incurred with mailing the newsletter.
A big THANK-YOU
goes to Nancy Hood for providing beautiful pansies as table decorations. Meeting adjourned.
NEXT MEETING:
June 12 - noon - Presbyterian Church.
Respectfully submitted,
Marlene Hoffman, Secretary
