The Red Pencil
Newsletter of Watauga County Retired School Personnel
Vol.XI, No.5 May 2009 ntn1066@hotmail.com
May Meeting
When: Thursday, 21 May 2009
Where: Deerfield Methodist Church
How much: $10, check payable to Watauga County NCRSP
What: Annual presentation of scholarship – La Verne Franklin
Memorial service – June Mann
Bring medicine bottles and any food staples you wish, especially powdered milk, canned soups, and cereals. Add a jar of peanut butter or two to your donation!
If your caller has not contacted you by the 17th of May, call Margaret Sigmon at 264-2036 or email her at margaretsigmon@bellsouth.net.
Two important quickies: remember to wear your little gold apple pin, the sign of your membership in the Watauga County Unit of North Carolina Retired School Personnel AND note upon your arrival at the meeting that we have new – and expensive – nametags. Please remember to leave your nametag on the table at the end of the meeting.
Apples, not caffeine, are more efficient at waking you up in the morning .
President’s Message:
Can you believe it? Our May meeting will be the last meeting of this school year. It just seems a scant moment ago when we gathered together for our first meeting of the year in August.
What a year it has been! Many new members, wonderful attendance, George’s tasty, home-cooked meals, entertaining and informative programs, delightful conversation with new and old colleagues, legislative updates, and reading The Red Pencil filled with news that educates and keep us up-to-date.
I feel so fortunate to be a part of an organization that continues to contribute so much to our community. I am always amazed at your generosity, contributing not only to our scholarship but also to the students of Watauga County, the Hunger Coalition, and many other worthy organizations and projects.
Because of you, the officers, the committee chairmen, and the fantastic executive board working together, we have had a successful and enjoyable year. We know that our work is far from over and that each of us this summer can invite other retired school personnel to join us. Remember the “power of one”!
After our May meeting and until we meet again in August, may your summer be filled with warm sunshine, gentle rain, and loving friends.
With much appreciation and a grateful heart,
Beth
The It’s Never Too Late Department, Membership Division
If you have not renewed your membership this year, please come to the May meeting anyway and be thinking of renewing your membership in August when the new year begins.
The It’s Never Too Early Department, Membership Division
If you know of educational personnel who will be retiring at the end of this year, please send their names to Membership chairs, Roland and Barbara Moy or to Dot Barker, Treasurer, and give them a personal invitation to our August breakfast. Currently we have 131 members, 76 on payroll deduction and 55 who pay cash for their membership. We have 9 new members, but we’d love to have many, many more. Remember that Power of One!
This June 10, the Broyhill Inn and Conference Center will host a retirement/pre-retirement meeting in the Helen Powers Grand Ballroom at 9.30A. For the first time, a representative of the Watauga Unit of NCRSP will be allowed to speak to the group about our organization and distribute our brochures. Again, if you have friends who are retiring or thinking of retiring from education this year, please let them know about this meeting and encourage them to join us in August.
You burn more calories sleeping than you do watching television.
Keeping Up With Those Volunteer Hours
Do you keep a calendar? One with space for the appointments in your life? Add something new, a notation of how you volunteered your time. If you have an appointment with a committee or at church or have plans to run errands for a friend or deliver Meals on Wheels, take a second when you return and jot down the number of hours that event took. Circle it. Later, when the time comes to fill in your Volunteer Hours Form, just add up the circled numbers!
Make your computer your new NCRSP friend. Save our unit a great deal of money by receiving The Red Pencil via email and keep up with programs, news, events, colleagues in the Watauga County Unit by logging on to the chapter website, www.watauga.k12.nc.us./wcrt.or WataugaCountyRetiredPersonnelblogspot.com Thanks, Lee, for being our talented and dedicated webmaster!
A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why.
In Memoriam
At our memorial service at the May meeting, we will remember Ruby Michael and Reba Austin. As is our policy, we have made contributions to the scholarship fund. We would also like to pay tribute to H.W. Mast, husband of our long-time member, Mary Hazel Mast.
2008 Scholarship Recipient
At this time, the recipient of our annual $1000 scholarship has not been selected by the WHS Scholarship Committee. Once chosen, our recipient and his/her parents will be invited to our meeting at Deerfield Methodist Church.
Contributions/Suggestions/Email Edition of The Red Pencil, Anyone?
ntn1066@hotmail.com or ntn@skybest.com or snail mail to
Nanci Tolbert Nance, P.O. Box 188, Blowing Rock NC 28605
Things My Mother Taught Me, just in time for Mother’s Day:
Consideration for others: “I just scrubbed that floor. Go bleed outside.”
Logic: “If you fall off that swing and break your neck, you can’t go to the store with me.”
Medicine: “Stop crossing your eyes or they’ll freeze that way.”
Humor: “When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don’t come running to me.”
ESP: “Put your sweater on. Don’t you think I know when you’re cold?”
How to become an adult: “If you don’t eat your vegetables, you’ll never grow up.”
A lesson in genetics: “You’re just like your father.”
About my roots: “Where do you think you were born? In a barn?”
The wisdom of age: “When you get to be my age, you’ll understand.”
About receiving: “You are going to get it when we get home.”
And most of all, my mother taught me about justice: “One day, you will have kids, and when you do, I hope they turn out to be just like you.”
We hope your Mother’s Day is wonderful!
Community Participation Update
The bleak economic news has led me to think about all the good work that we RSP folk do when we bring in items for the Health and Hunger Coalition. I talked with their director, Compton, recently and learned that they have about a 35% increase in the number of people they are serving now.
I asked her for suggestions of items they often run out of or items they need that we might not think to bring. She mentioned the usual things: sugar, salt, flour. This month, we would like to add a jar of peanut butter to your usual generous donation. Compton also mentioned that while they cannot pass on food that has been opened, they can offer non-food items like cleaning supplies or personal hygiene items – things we might have tried and not liked, and again she thanked us for the medicine bottles.
I join her in thanking you for your contribution to the Hunger Coalition, but also for all the other volunteer work you do. Remember to keep those hours recorded.
Eula Mae Fox
How to Reach the People You Need
Your most recent issue of The Retirement Report, the newsletter for retired government employees in North Carolina, contains a listing of phone numbers and websites you should know. Among them are these important sites.
Retirement Systems Division
1-877-733-4191 (toll-free)
www.myncretirement.com
Department of State Treasurer’s
Unclaimed Property Program
919-508-1000
www.nccash.com
Social Security Administration
1-800-772-1213 (toll-free)
www.ssa.gov
State Health Plan
1-800-422-4658 (toll-free)
www.shpnc.org
SEANC
1-800-222-2758 (toll-free)
www.seanc.org
NCAE/NCRSP
1-800-662-7924 (toll-free)
www.ncae.org, www.ncrsp.org
