Montgomery County Retired Teachers Association meeting

The December meeting of MCRTA was called to order by Dr. Kathy Steele. She began the meeting by telling several humorous stories about her years of teaching. Then she led the members in the Pledge of Allegiance and an invocation was given by Debbie Howard.

Secretary Karen Patton read the minutes from the November meeting and Treasurer Larry Manlove gave the treasurers report. Both reports were approved.

Vice President Kim Nixon introduced Marsha Smith and the Crescendos with Bill Stockwell on the keyboard. Members were entertained with several classic Christmas songs as well as new versions of old favorites. One standout was the story of Christmas used as the lyrics to the tune of Amazing Grace. For the first time we had a sing along of Christmas Carols. Marsha and the Crescendos have been singing for the MCRTA annually for 17 years and Marsha has been directing the Crescendos for almost 50 years. Our own member Barb Foster is a member of Crescendos. The group does many concerts in the community as well as performing at the State Fair with the State Fair choir. The group is a Home Extension club. The music put all in a holiday spirit.

Vice President Kim Nixon announced that a check for $1000 will be sent from the membership to Youth Service Bureau from our funds at the MCCF.

In the business meeting Community Service Chair Nancy Bowes reported on the importance of collecting volunteer hours. They are due by the end of December and can be emailed or mailed to Nancy. Even during the year 2020 we accumulated over 10,000 volunteer hours.

Constitution and By-Laws chair Letty Calder announced that the committee will go over possible changes with the officers in the near future.

Member Concerns chair Mary Lefebvre passed out Christmas cards to be sent to people who can’t always attend meetings. She also sent cards to members who had surgeries recently and to the family of Bob Nabor who passed away recently.

Membership chair Debbie Howard announced that we have 196 members.

Nominations committee chair Sheila Hodges announced that at our February meeting that she will engage the membership in a group activity to get nominations for officers for next year. Sheila talked about the need to get new people to try to take a leadership position.

Please email Pam Crull if you plan to eat lunch at the MCRTA meeting. That helps us to give the caterer the correct count. Members can attend without eating lunch. MCRTA must pay for every meal in the count. If you are attending just the business meeting, please do not make a reservation with Pam.

President Steele announced that she would be attending the North Montgomery School Board meeting to present to Cassandra Bever the $500 grant she was awarded for the Breathe For Change program. Mrs. Bever was the ISTA Area 4 winner of the active teacher grant.

In New Business President Steele announced that we need to be aware of a scam going around supposedly sent from the Indiana HRA Plan. The IT department of Indiana HRA has shut down all incoming and outgoing email. If you need to contact the office, use the secure messaging service. Log on to https://portal.indianahra.com, and click the envelope icon at the top of your screen. If you suspect suspicious email contact the Customer Care Center at 1-888-711-9182. The Indiana HRA will confirm if it is legitimate.

On Jan. 19 from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. the IRTA will offer a Virtual Reconnection session that officers have been invited to attend. Dr. Steele will be attending. This replaces the cancelled in person Fall Workshop.

There will be no meeting in January. The next meeting will be Feb. 14 with Karen Branch, director of the YSB, as our speaker. President Steele thanked the caterer and Debbie Howard and Linda Sabol for the beautiful decorations. The meeting was adjourned, and door prizes were awarded.

Respectfully submitted by Karen Patton, Secretary