January 2012

Hi MCREAers,

It was a lovely party with sugar plums, carols, and the Bowery Boys Barber Shop Quartet to entertain us. No serious business was done in keeping with the celebration. There was some consternation about the small lunch portions served by Renaissance on 9th. Deborah Thomas, Judy Shostrum, and I are meeting with the events person there to discuss our concerns. We will have information for you when we meet this month.

Thank you to everyone who brought in crafts and food items to sell. One member who shall remain nameless told me that she was so happy to buy all those lovely decorated cookies. She planned to have them ready for her college student who will be so impressed with her baking efforts.

We will have a report for you about the amount of money we made with our sale to support MCREA scholarships. Scholarship donations have begun to trickle in. We are grateful to Elaine Graham, Phyllis Boles, and Johncyna MacRae (Deborah Thomas's sister) for their generous contributions. Now we need to hear from more of you in order to present at least one $1000 scholarship as required by our Bylaws. Last year we actually were able to present four of them. It is important to remember that these awards go to students who plan to become educators. We hope that their experiences in the field will be much better by the time they enter it. The latest projected bills in the Legislature, if they are passed, will continue to hurt educators and public education in Florida Be active by writing letters, sending emails to legislators, and speaking up to everyone who will listen about the perilous situation in public education today.

There have been changes in the Scholarship Committee. Juanine Lowery has resigned and last year we lost Leon Trumbull. Taking his place is Joan McDonald who joins her husband, Terry, on the committee. Julia Forkgen and I are co-chairing. Deborah Thomas is also joining us in this important effort. Barbara Kitzman will still ask you to donate to the 50/50 collection at our meetings. If you have an interest in joining us on the Scholarship Committee, please call, email, or see Julia or me to sign on. We are trying to streamline the work to make it a joy rather than a chore.

Nancy Porter, one of our new members, was left out of the MCREA Handbook. Her address is 4611 8th. St. Ct. East, Ellenton, FL 34222. Her email is mspork@aol.com, and her phone number is 729-2820, cell 812-1553. You can add her information to your book. I am sure that some others have also been omitted. If you are one of those, please send me your information and I will send it on to the members. If you haven't received your Handbook, you can pick it up from David Brown at our next meeting or get in touch with him at 722-7390.

Jane Evers of FELT said she had enough books to include one in each of the children's backpacks as they left for Christmas vacation. She said they gave each child extra food and a Christmas item as well. Of course, the need continues and contributions of small packages of food and books are still being accepted. If you bring them to the meetings, I will get them to Jane. I had a trunk full of stuff for her after the December meeting which she was happy to receive. Those donations will help with the January backpacks.

We have invited the Manatee County School Board members to our January meeting. At this time, three of them have accepted our invitations. We are quite anxious to show them that retired educators are still active and interested in the success of the Manatee County Schools. I hope that lots of us will be there to demonstrate our numbers and our enthusiasm.

We meet on Thursday, January 19, at 11:30 A.M., at Renaissance on 9th. Our speaker will be Monica Mogilewsky who works with the Lemur Conservation team. They may be saving the little animals from extinction because their natural habitat is being changed so much by industry and expansion.

If your caller does not get in touch with you in the week before the meeting, please call Mary Ann Jensen at 756-7603 to make a reservation. If you cannot attend and you have made a reservation, be sure to call her to cancel on or before Saturday, January 14.

Happy New Year,

Ellen