The Red Pencil 
Newsletter of Watauga Unit, NC Retired School Personnel
Vol.XVIII,
No. 3 December 2017____________________________________steelebecky58@gmail.com
December Meeting
Noon,
Thursday, December 14, 2017
Deerfield
Methodist Church
Cost
per meal is $10, payable to Watauga Unit, NCRSP
Program: The December
program will be an ensemble of the WHS Orchestra, led by Will Selle, who is in
his 10th year at WHS. He’s originally from Brevard, where Dr. Scott Elliott was
his principal in middle school. Dr. Elliott will speak briefly following the
music, primarily to answer any questions or concerns our members might have.
Please join us for some delightful seasonal music and to get an update on
Watauga County Schools from the superintendent.
If you don’t RSVP via email or receive a call from one
of our volunteer callers, please call
Becky Steele at 828-295-3045 before 8 PM on
Friday, December 8,
or email her at steelebecky58@gmail.com.
To bring: - as much non-perishable food as you can for the Health &
Hunger Coalition. Powdered milk, soup,
oatmeal, pasta products, canned fruit, peanut butter, and vegetables, ANYthing
non-perishable will be acceptable. Please remember that boxes of staples are
preferable to plastic bags because they’re less destructible. Did you know that more than 400 children
receive food on Fridays to feed themselves during the weekend? PLEASE help.
- medicine bottles, Box Tops for
Education
- all your loose change.
We want our scholarship program to continue, and for that to happen, we
need all those lovely, noisy nickels and
dimes and quarters.
If
you have time, please plan to stay for just a few minutes after the meeting
to help clean our
meeting space.
President’s Message
Greetings!
It’s that time of year again when we
think of our friends and loved ones, and of all our many blessings. We all hope
that we have touched lives in some way, and helped make life better for the
less fortunate.
As we anticipate our December 14th
meeting, we look forward to continuing
our tradition of having holiday music, this year played by an ensemble of the
Watauga High School orchestra, directed by Will Selle. Celebrating with our own
students is always a treat! In addition, Dr. Scott Elliott, Superintendent of
Watauga County Schools, plans to give us a brief update on the status of our
schools.
Coming up in May 2018 is our officer
election, an event that occurs every 2 years. While Jane Rogers will be our
president, we are looking for a vice-president.
Send in your recommendations or your self-nomination, to me or to any of our
officers. Our treasurer, Linda Seamster, and our Red Pencil editor, Becky Steele, have agreed to
continue on in their positions, as have several of the committee chairs. We
will need a Community Participation chair to replace Candace Hall, who has
served our unit so well over the years.
My gratitude to each of you for who
you are and for all that you do to help others. Best wishes to you and your
families for a safe Christmas season and a productive and healthy 2018!
Wishing you peace and joy,
Mary Linda Dooley
Be sure to check out our website: wcrsp.blogspot.com
Treasurer’s Report
Treasurer’s Report for
Watauga Unit of NCRSP
As of 16 November 2017
Shares Account $ 32.73
Money Market $ 3274.21
Checking Account
Beginning Balance $5820.77
Income: Expenses:
Interest (Sept) $ 1.38 Checking
Account Fee (Sept) $ 1.00
DEP. Scholarship Donation (1) $ 10.00 Ck#1095 USPO: Transmittal Form $ 2.96
DEP. 4th quarter dues $ 113.23 Ck#1096
Precision Printing: RP $ 44.19
DEP. Lunch Collected: August $ 360.00 Ck#1097 USPO: RP Postage $ 24.50
DEP. Scholarship Donations $ 208.39 Ck#1098 DUMC: Venue $ 30.00
Ck#1099
BBQ: Food $ 175.00
Interest (Oct) $ 1.09 Checking
Account Fee (Oct) $ 1.00
Ck#1100
S. Kader: Membership Comm. $ 20.51
Interest (Nov) $ 1.28 Checking
Account Fee (Nov) $ 1.00
Total Income: $
695.37 Total Expenses: $
300.16
Ending Balance $6215.98
Dedicated Amounts
included in Ending Balance:
Grant Funds: Committees $1614.22-20.51 Balance
$1593.71
Scholarship Funds $1466.24+218.39 Balance $1684.63
Grant Funds: Avery $324.57-17.76
Balance $ 306.81
Approved by Executive
Board
Linda Seamster
Watauga Unit Treasurer
Membership News
Welcome
New Members!
The Membership Committee continues to
recruit new members to NCRSP, and thanks everyone who has already helped to
recruit new members since the end of last school year.
If you know of any other retiree who
may be interested in joining NCRSP, please invite them to come to our next
meeting.
You can contact me, Saralyn Kader, at saralynkader@gmail.com, or call 295-9414 and I'll send them information.
Heartline - News from our NCRSP
Family
Family
Ask Nanci Tolbert Nance where she’s been lately
and she’ll tell you all about a chilly week in New York. While she was there,
she attended four plays, visited the 9/11 Museum and the One World Trade
Observatory, window-shopped in the Christmas markets in Bryant Park and Grand
Central Station and the farmers’ market in Union Square, and walked about 4
miles a day!
The 2017 recipient of our recognition for
outstanding community volunteer, Mary Hazel Mast, celebrates the Big 9-0 on the
17th of December. Congratulations, Mary!
Becky Steele’s daughter, Ashlyn (a teacher at
Hardin Park), married Dusty Yates in mid-October at the gazebo in Broyhill Park
in Blowing Rock.
Dot Barker’s youngest grandson, Turner
Trivette, will graduate from ASU on December 16, with a degree in construction
management.
Candace Hall enjoyed a trip to Portland, OR, to visit her son and
family over Thanksgiving.
Joyce Alexander is back in Greenwood and
looking forward to seeing everyone
when she returns in the spring.
Brenda
Reese just returned from a tour of New York City. This is the first time she has seen it
decorated for Christmas! “It didn't
disappoint!” she said.
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Looking for a unique and simple way to make a difference to education? Go to www.donorschoose.org (that’s org, not com), a site where teachers across the nation can post the needs they have in their own classroom. Donate a little or a lot. Donate in honor or in memory of a colleague, your kids’ teachers, or even one of your own mentors in education. Click through your choices, select one close to your heart, and remember how you felt when you provided your own books, pencils, bulletin board materials, videos, recordings, and on and on and on.
IRS
Warns of Christmas Email Phishing Scams
As we enter the holiday season, please be ever vigilant not
to have your holidays ruined by falling victim to phishing scams that seem to
become even more prevalent this time of year.
“With the approach of the holidays and the 2018 filing
season, the IRS, state tax agencies and the nation’s tax industry are urging
Americans to be on the lookout for new, sophisticated email phishing scams that
could endanger their personal information and next year’s tax refund.”
To read the full article, and to get tips on how not to
fall for the scams, go to:
http://www.cpapracticeadvisor.com/news/12383681/irs-warns-of-christmas-email-phishing-scams
Each December we include a seasonal recipe or two for your
enjoyment. This year’s recipes come to us courtesy of Bill Watterson.
Quick Cherry Crisp Cobbler
1
large can of crushed pineapple with juice 1 box of yellow or white cake mix
[dry]
2
cans of cherry pie filling 1 stick
of margarine or butter [melted]
Procedure:
Spray a 9” x 13” pan with Pam. Pour pineapple with juice into pan. Spread cherries and filling over
pineapple. Sprinkle dry cake mix over
fruit. Drizzle margarine over cake
mix. Bake at 300 degrees for 1 ½ hours, checking periodically.
BARBECUED
TUNA
1 tbsp. vinegar 1/2
tsp. chili powder
1 tbsp. brown sugar Dash
of dried onions
1 tbsp. mustard 1/2
cup tomato sauce
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce 1 can
of drained tuna
Procedure:
Mix all ingredients except tuna well and heat
in a sauce pan! Mix heated ingredients into drained, chopped up tuna and serve
on buns as sandwiches. Tastes like pork barbecue!
On
the Light Side ~ The
Optimist
Little
Susie had been born with a sunny disposition, and was the most optimistic kid
anybody had ever seen.
She
loved people and animals, and no matter what happened, she always saw the
bright side.
She
was also an artistic girl. So one Christmas, her parents got her a big bag of
clay for making pottery. They put it on the back porch next to a bag of horse
manure for the garden.
On
Christmas Eve, dad wrapped the presents. It was a little dark on the porch, and
as you may have guessed, he wrapped the manure by mistake, instead of the
pottery clay.
On
Christmas morning, Susie was excited to see what Santa had brought her. When
she finally got to unwrap her big present, her parents watched with
anticipation to see how much she liked her clay.
When
Susie opened the package, and then the bag inside containing several pounds of
stinky horse manure, the parents were aghast.
But
before they could apologize, Susie said, “Oh boy! I got a pony!
NCRSP Volunteer Hours
The
total number of hours volunteered for the 2017 year, as of October, is
2369.5 There are 542 hours spent in
education, which is below where we were at this point last year, and 1827.5
hours considered “other.” Remember that
the time you spend in a meeting for WCRSP can be counted in the
"other" category. That means
that you can add 2 hours to your time in December for being at the
meeting. For those of you attending the
December meeting but not turning in a volunteer form, I will count your
attendance with a volunteer time of 2 hours.
Also,
please remember that any preparation time for teaching, as well as the actual
teaching time, can be counted as education, whether it is for Sunday School,
music, voice, gardening, or arts and crafts, etc.
The
hours for 2017 need to be turned in to me by January 10, 2018. At that time I will be
sending the totals and member with the highest
volunteer hours on to the regional chair.
Once again, you may call or email me with those hours. Many thanks for all you're doing as
volunteers in our community!
sending the totals and member with the highest
volunteer hours on to the regional chair.
Once again, you may call or email me with those hours. Many thanks for all you're doing as
volunteers in our community!
On
another note, many thanks to those who brought books for Santa’s Toy Box. They will make great additions to the gifts
given to children this year.
Candace
Hall
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VOLUNTEER SERVICES:
NCRSP Community Participation - Volunteer
Hours 2017
Name
__________________________________________________
|
Category
|
Jan
|
Feb
|
Mar
|
Apr
|
May
|
Jun
|
Jul
|
Aug
|
Sep
|
Oct
|
Nov
|
Dec
|
Total
|
|
Education
|
x
|
x
|
x
|
x
|
x
|
x
|
x
|
x
|
x
|
x
|
|
|
|
|
Other
|
x
|
x
|
x
|
x
|
x
|
x
|
x
|
x
|
x
|
x
|
|
|
|
Total Hours in
All Categories ________
Candace
will be happy to take your information by phone at 264-5763 or by email to mcandacehall@gmail.com.
The Red Pencil
Watauga County NCRSP
PO Box 2963
Boone, NC 28607
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