IEA-Retired Southwestern Chapter
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September 2006 Meeting

 
 Jack conducted a powerpoint presentation on our TRS System.
 
 
 
Jack Tucker was Guest Speaker at our September Meeting 
     
 
IEA-Retired Southwestern Chapter was pleased to meet and greet Jack Tucker at our recent September Meeting.  Jack, our new IEA-R Chair, was the featured speaker.  He gave a very interesting and  informative powerpoint presentation on the current status of our TRS system.  Jack also shared with us some of his personal travel tips and made himself available to answer any questions.   Our chapter was delighted to have the opportunity to host Jack at our opening meeting of the year!
 
 Jack took time after the meeting to meet and visit with chapter members.
 
 
 
IEA/Retired Mentor Program is Piloting Online Project

 

     The IEA Living Library, an electronic filing cabinet system, was implemented in July at the Summer Leadership Academy.  Training was held for mentors and student mentees.  Janet Kilgus, Mae Smith, and Linda Walcher assisted in the training along with Mind University consultants, Dan and Steve Fouts. 

       The electronic file cabinet is a way for retired mentors to assemble their best teaching resources online and share them with future teachers.  If you still have teaching tips, discipline techniques, worksheets, and/or bulletin board ideas floating around in your head, this is a way to share them with all mentees in our mentor program.  The mentor is initially trained on how to use the simple system and then can make filling their file cabinet an ongoing process.  They can build on their cabinet whenever they want.  There are no time restraints.  Mentors may add or complete at their leisure.  Mentees that are signed up will be able to access the Living Library whenever needed. 

       This year is the pilot program for the project.  The goal is to have 30 mentors and 50 mentees signed up.  At present the IEA/Retired Mentor Program has 22 mentors and is searching for some more volunteers.  In order to sign up you must already be an IEA/Retired Mentor or be willing to become one this year. 

     The next training for the Living Library is at the IEA Student Conference, November 17-18, 2006, at the Doubletree Hotel and Conference Center (formerly the Raddison) in Bloomington.  Conference hotel, meals and registration will be provided for those mentors who are signed up to be in the pilot project.  Self-training is also an option with a user-friendly Living Library Handbook for mentors which will be provided.  Linda Walcher from the IEA-Retired Southwestern  Chapter is one of the trainers and is available to help other mentors get started in setting up their online filing cabinets. 

      If you are interested in becoming an IEA/Retired mentor and/or be a part of the IEA Living Library pilot program, please contact Janet Kilgus, 10 Timber Ridge Drive, Fairbury, Il. 61739, or email her at djkilgus@davesworld.net.   
 
 
 
November 2006 Meeting
 
 
Piece of Mind Presentation at our November Meeting
 
 
     
                
  
 
 Andi Allen, owner of Piece of Mind Books in Edwardsville, made an encore visit to our Southwest Chapter Meeting in November.  Her first presentation to our group had been in 2004 and was so well-received that we invited her back to give us more ideas for holiday gift-giving!
 
 
   

  

Our members were happy to shop for some of the books that Andi had brought with her to share.
 
 Attendance Prize Donation Well-Received!
 
     At our November meeting, our members voted to contribute a $50.00 Gift Certificate to the Student/IEA Fall Conference held in Bloomington on November 17th and 18th, 2006..  It was decided to buy the Gift Certificate at Office Depot which has a nice selection of teacher supplies.  The Gift Certificate was given to Kristi Uzzo, IEA/Student State Chairman and former chapter chair of our own SIUE Student Chapter, to use in any way that she chose.  Kristi was delighted to have this donated gift for the conference.  She used it as an Attendance Prize at the After Dinner Dance to increase attendance.  It was announced at the dinner that a name would be drawn at the end of the dance and if you were present and had attended the dance for most of the evening you would win the Gift Certificate.  The lucky winner was Olivia Clark from Waubonsee Community College.  Olivia was very happy to win the prize and said she was looking forward to getting back home and spending her certificate!
 
 

Chapter Meetings 2007-08

 

Visit from Jack Tucker at September Meeting
 

   
IEA/Retired Chair, Jack Tucker, visited our Chapter at our September Meeting.  He presented a Power Point on defined contribution/defined benefit retirement plans. This was very interesting and informative to our members.  Since Jack had recently returned from a fabulous trip to India, he also included some travel information as a free bonus.
 
 
Fall Student Conference 2007
 
     Four Southwest Chapter members attended the Fall Conference.   
     Nancy Boza, Rich Burroughs, Pat Potthast, and Linda Walcher traveled to Bloomington on November 16-17th to help at the Fall Student Conference.  Every year IEA-Retired members and mentors are invited to help run the Book Fair for the students at the conference.  There is an opportunity for mentors to meet their mentees at these conferences and Linda was able to meet four of her mentees!   It is always rewarding to meet and see the dedicated and hard-working young future teachers as they attend the workshops and listen to the inspirational speaker at the evening dinner.  Also, there is an opportunity to visit with the other IEA Retired members who come from around the state to help at the conference.   It was a first time experience for Nancy and Rich (newly retired members) to attend the student conference and both felt they had a great time and plan to go back again.
 
 
 
 
American Cancer Society Speaker at January Meeting
 
 
 
Marilyn McCall from the American Cancer Society spoke to our group about the 'harm of secondhand smoke to your body'.  She had very interesting facts and case stories to share.  Marilyn's program, "Making Smoke-Free Illinois A Reality", was a timely topic due to the NO SMOKING in PUBLIC BUILDINGS law that was recently passed on January 1st in the state of Illinois. One of the websites that Marilyn recommended is www.smokefreeillinois.net.   Interested members might want to refer to this site for more information.
Marilyn is our treasurer's (Jack McCall) wife and we welcome her and are always happy to have her share an important topic that involves our health. 
 
 
 
Invest in Excellence Speaker at March Meeting
 
 
 
 

     Our featured speaker, Mary Jane Morris, brought information to our group about the IEA's work in Invest in Excellence.  It is the hope of IIE to spread the word and get member involvement to help promote the cause of Invest in Excellence.  Mary Jane asked the members of our group to write down two answers to "What can IEA do to support you?".   These answers were turned in and she discussed them with our group.  Mary Jane also asked us to get behind the Senate Bill 2288 which is moving in Springfield right now. We need to show state leaders in Springfield that communities across Illinois support comprehensive school quality and funding reform.

 
 
 

Spring Conference 2008

 
 
Every year IEA-Retired holds a Spring Conference. The conference is a wonderful opportunity for retired members to meet and share. Attendees can choose to visit sessions from a selection of many interesting and informative workshops. This year's conference was held in Oakbrook, Illinois at the McDonald's Lodge on Saturday, April 5th, 2008.   Five of our members were able to attend (picture below).  The conference was made special this year by the appearance of Reg Weaver, NEA president and former IEA president, who spoke at the Saturday Luncheon.  A record number of 230+ attendees were present at the 11th Annual Conference!
 

 

 
Those attending the 2008 Spring Conference from our chapter were
(L. to R.) Jack McCall, Marilyn McCall, Linda Walcher, Rita Baker, Karen Nash
 
 
 
 
 On Friday, before the Conference, there is a Presidents' Meeting and Retired Council Meeting.  The above picture is the group attending the Presidents' Meeting.  Linda Walcher, Vice-Chair of Southwestern Chapter, attended for Chuck Weishaupt, Southwestern Chair, who was unable to attend the meeting.  Stacey Burroughs (IEA/Retired Program Director), Barb Gilhaus (IEA Retired Secretary), Jack Tucker (IEA Retired Chair), and JoAnn Kenner (IEA Retired Vice-Chair) are seated in the front row at the table.
 
IEA Retired Mentors help at Student Conference
 
  Each year, at the Fall and Spring Student Conferences, IEA-Retired members are always invited to help run the Student Book Fair.  Mentors find this a great opportunity to meet up with their student mentees.  If you would like to attend and help, please contact Janet Kilgus at djkilgus@davesworld.net.  The 2008 Fall Conference was held on November 21-22 in Bloomington.  Their Spring Conference will be on April 17-18th in Peoria. 
 
 
 
       At Student Conference the Student/IEA conducts a Book Fair to raise money for their programs.  Retired/IEA mentors volunteer to help the students with this project.  Retired mentors, C.E. Welch (Land of Lincoln Chapter)  and Linda Walcher (Southwestern Chapter), are shown here working at the Book Fair Booth.
 
 
 
Donated materials for Silent Auction at Student Conference
 
 
 
IEA Retired and Active members are asked to donate used teacher materials for the students to place in their Silent Auction at the Student Conference.  This is another way that the students raise money for their programs.  This is a very popular booth at the Conference as the students are enthusiastic about purchasing used materials at bargain prices!!  Donated materials can be brought to the IEA Professional Development Center in Springfield or email lindyloo50@aol.com to arrange another type of  delivery/pick-up. 
 
 
 
ISU  Student wins Gift Certificate at Conference
 
 
 
 
 
Nikki Kurtovich, a sophomore at ISU and an elementary education major, won the $50. gift certificate that was donated by the Southwestern Chapter to the Spring Student Conference in 2008.  Nikki  won the Office Max gift certificate when her name was drawn for attendance at the Friday evening dance.  Nikki had a super great time at the conference because she ALSO won the election to be the Secretary/Treasurer on the IEA Student Team for next year!  Congratulations Nikki!! 
 
 
 
 First IEA-Retired Fall Conference in Springfield!

 

 
   
 
The FIRST Annual Fall Downstate Conference held on October 4th had a better than hoped for attendance.  More than 100 retirees, pre-retireds, staff, and presenters attended the conference. The workshops were interesting, fun, and highly praised by the participants!  The auction ticket raffle to raise money for the Hauge Scholarship was extremely successful.  The raffle raised over $700. for the scholarship fund!  A special THANKS to the generous donations of those participating in the raffle. 
 

         

      The IEA-Retired was especially proud to present Lily Eskelson, NEA Vice-President, as our luncheon speaker.  Lily is always interesting and entertaining and she did not disappoint!  Many conference evaluations listed Lily as their favorite part of the Conference.  Rich Frankenfeld and Will Lovett also gave TRS and Legislative Reports, respectively, at the Luncheon.  The information in these reports were of particular interest to the annuitants/IEA-Retireds who were in attendance. 
 
 
     
 
We were fortunate to have NEA/Retired President, Barbara Matteson from Arizona,
attend our First Fall Conference.  Barbara was entering some raffle tickets
in our Scholarship Raffle hoping to win one of our lovely Fall baskets! 
 
 
 
 
Marie Samuels, retired teacher and art instructor, conducts a
workshop session on painting a fall tree in acrylics.  This session
 was well attended and was a favorite at the conference. 
 Gene Craig, NEA-Retired Secretary/Treasurer, is working diligently at his painting!
 
 
 
Another creative workshop involved making a Fall wreath.  Here, Chuck Starke,
IEA-Retired Council member is getting some tips from the class instructor, Marj Schwager. 
 
 
 
Since our conference took place in Springfield, it was appropriate 
 to have an interesting visit from Mary Todd Lincoln, as portrayed by Pam Brown. 
Her session was enjoyed by all who attended! 
 
 
 
 
Karen Nash and John and Sandy Phillips, from Southwestern Chapter,
were also entering into the ticket raffle. 
 
 
 
 
 
Twelve Southwestern Chapter members attended the Fall conference
l.to r. back row: Lorna Larue (pre-retired), Jack McCall, John Phillips, Cynthia O'Neill
l.to r. front row: Rita Baker, Linda Walcher, Karen Nash, Sandy Phillips, Marilyn McCall, Judy Wasmuth
NOT SHOWN: Denise Williams and Chuck Weishaupt (photographer)
 
 
 
 

TRS Investments Remain Financially Sound

 
 
 
 
 
 Rich Frankenfeld, TRS Director of Outreach, presented an interesting slideshow at our November meeting.  This short slideshow gave the members an overview of the Teacher's Retirement System.  Rich spoke about basic benefits and the financial investments of TRS.  The members were happy to hear that TRS investments have remained financially sound through these tough economic times.  Rich also provided the members with contact information should they have a need to get in touch with the TRS offices.  He assured our members that TRS is there to answer your questions and be of service to its annuitants.
 Member Services: (800)877-7896
MWF 7:30-4:30
TTH 7:30-6:00
Rich Frankenfeld (800)877-7896, ext. 2973
 

TRS opposes Consolidation of Pension Funds

 
 
 
 
 
 

3000+ Members Attend Lobby Day  May 2009

     Thousands of members journeyed to Springfield on May 6th to speak to their legislators about their concerns with the governor's budget proposal and about education funding.  Check out the IEA website to learn more about Lobby Day and see pictures of those that attended.  Keep informed by reading the Insider when it comes to your email box!  Charlie McBarron is constantly communicating with our members about important updates happening in Springfield. 

 
Look below for some fun pictures from Lobby Day!
 
 
 
A Rare Sighting!!
I was able to capture our Southwestern chapter president, Chuck Weishaupt, as he relaxed near the end of Lobby Day!  Chuck is rarely seen in FRONT of a camera!!
 
 
Special Sighting!
IEA Retired Chair, Jack Tucker, and IEA Retired Secretary/Treasurer, Barb Gilhaus, were resting under our Lobby Day tent when I captured them with my camera.
 
 
Almost Missed Sighting!
 
Southwestern Chapter Secretary, Carol Mercer, is caught here walking with her Region 4 group on their way to speak with a legislator.  Carol is the short one second from the left!
 
 
 
Surprised Sighting! 
Linda Walcher (that's me!), Southwestern chapter Vice-Chair,  was apparently sighted as she disembarked from one of the southern Lobby Day busses that brought us to Springfield. 
(I found this picture as I was looking through the many lobby day pictures linked through the Insider that were taken by IEA reporters on Lobby Day.  If you attended Lobby Day you might find yourself caught unaware!  Go check them out now!)