May 15, 2016

    And a good time was had by all.  There was some education happening at the April meeting also.  For those of you who did not attend, Susan and John Darovec  presented an interesting overview of a plan from the Citizen's Climate Lobby to get the country moving on reducing carbon emissions into the already overheated atmosphere.  The innovative plan does not use subsidies, taxes, regulations, or cap and trade solutions.  Rather, the plan is to charge fees for carbon emissions which will be collected and then returned to consumers.  The fees will steadily rise with time so that industry can adjust to them.  The Lobby believes that extra money in consumers' pockets will soon result in more retail spending which will create more jobs.  The cost of living will rise,but the money from the fees will help consumers cope with that and do better also.
 
    For those doubters about the effects of carbon emissions leading to climate change, Susan cited a couple of local effects.  Strawberry farmers suffered losses this year because of the warm winter.  Commercial fishermen did not have the usual runs of mullet which have always preceded cold fronts, and so also lost money.  And flood insurance rates have increased because of the rise of sea levels.

    Susan and John urged members to get involved in CCL (Consumers' Climate Lobby) which is an active national group.  It is bi-partisan, non-profit with 327 active chapters.  The local chapter meets once a month and you can get in touch with Susan to find out where and when. 

    I got all the books for FELT graded and delivered to the FELT warehouse.  I stayed and participated in the backpack stuffing.  This is a regular Saturday morning exercise attended by church groups, the Lion's club, some girls scouts, and just good hearted people.  The efficiency is amazing.  An assembly line is set up with a person to hand out bags and keep track of the number for each school.  Volunteers proceed down the line adding items like Kraft Mac and Cheese, soup, canned food items, fruit cups, peanut butter and jelly, fruit drinks, and finally a loaf of bread is added to the top.  When the number required for a school is reached, the bags are put into a car and someone drives away to the school.  There the bags are reloaded into backpacks.  Older kids in middle and high school get more food, so their bags are really stuffed.  The books will be driven to the schools according to the grade levels which I have marked on sticky notes so they can be removed.  There they will be added to the backpacks as well or just handed to each kid as he or she comes to pick up a bag. 

    Bill Evers says FELT is always in need of more volunteers, so perhaps you might like to go to the warehouse on a Saturday morning at about 9:00, and see the operation and get involved.  FELT is directly across the street from Shannon Funeral Home, at 936 14th Street West.  I parked in Shannon's parking lot, but there is some parking next to the warehouse.  It is well marked and easy to access.  There are only four more distributions this school year.

    I did not know that Manatee County teacher Davine E. Robinson died on Feb. 22, of complications of ALS.  She was a teacher for 33 years.  She taught at Blackburn and Oneco.

    Our MCREA 2016 Scholarship grants of $500 go to Joshua Evangelista of Palmetto High School and Isabel Starner of Lakewood Ranch High School.  Joshua will attend Florida Atlantic University and Isabel will attend USF.  Karen Tribble's MCREA Scholarship will be renewed for $1000.  Meanwhile, two students from Manatee County who received FREA Scholarships will have their grants renewed:  Danielle Guida for her second year, and Melea Willett for her fourth.

    Thursday, May 19th, will be our last meeting until fall.  I hope many of you are planning to attend.  Our theme for the meeting is patriotism, so dust of your red, white, and blue outfits and wear them with pride.  We will be having picnic fare for lunch since we used to really have a picnic on the last meeting day.  However, the heat, the bugs, and the other discomforts changed our minds, and now we have sort of Marie Antoinette faux brush with the natural world.

    We will not have a speaker this month.  Instead we are asked to bring something old to share.  Yes, I know there are several jokes in there, but you can tell them to yourself and chuckle.  At first, the suggestion was that we should bring something older than ourselves.  But for some of us, me included, that would be very difficult. So, just old will do.  What that means, you will have to work out for yourself.  There are no guidelines.

    Remember to get your 2016-17 dues paid.  You can bring them to the meeting, or mail them to Ron Schneider at 3802 Chinaberry Road, Bradenton, FL 34208.  Ron really would like to retire from his position as treasurer, so we hope that you might decide to join us on the MCREA Board.  It's not that tough.  Ron has everything organized and the treasury is not very large.

See you Thursday,
Ellen

   

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