President’s Message

Peggy Prendergast

RTAM President 2019-2020

RETIRED TEACHERS’

ASSOCIATION OF MANITOBA

Onward and upward! Another chronological report. The second Board meeting took place on June 12 followed by a short meeting of committee chairs. Standing committees were established, the new office staff introduced and ongoing business and business from AGM discussed. The Officers' Committee was given permission to address the upcoming elections over the summer, as the date of the provincial election was set. So now, what happens next?

By the end of June, the Manitoba Senior’s Coalition set their plan in motion. John Sushelnitsky and I are the RTAM members on the Coalition and our responsibility is to discuss Income Security. What has come to be is an insert in the middle of the newspaper “Lifestyles” that is published once a month by Dorothy Dobbie of Pegasus Publications. The paper is free and distributed throughout the province at locations like your local Senior Centre or Safeway. So pick one up! Until March, RTAM will have a 500 word article each month on Income Security and how older adults are affected by societal events, what services are available to be of assistance, and where they are located. As well, we will be heard at 10:37 AM and 3:37 PM on radio clips entitled “Conversation with Connie” on the radio station CJNU, the Nostalgic Station, located on your FM dial at 93.7 or online at www. cjnu.ca/coffee or at 725 on your MTS TV dial. The station has a radius of listening ability to Portage La Prairie and Steinbach. CJNU is staffed mainly by volunteers and supported by the Winnipeg Foundation, which is also where our RTAM Student Award Endowment Fund is located, FOR GOOD, FOREVER.

RTAM’s Officers' Committee met in Portage la Prairie on July 12 to discuss the recommendation from the Political Advocacy Committee to send a post card of questions for the candidates in the federal and fast tracked upcoming provincial elections, that the committee put together at their June 13 meeting. Blue Ink Media, that designs and produces KIT, designed the postcard that you received in August. Because of the small amount of space available on the post card, it became evident that the website needed to be up-to-date. Ralph Cibula, Website Committee Chair, was included with Blue Ink Media and the office staff to set up a working process. Since then, a lot of work has resulted in the website slowly evolving into a source of current information about RTAM events: the election happenings, committee events like the Wellness Advocacy workshops in September and October, Student Award information and even some updated Chapter information. By the way, I have already received two invitations to attend a chapter meeting. I am looking forward to attending other chapter meetings so please don’t hesitate to invite me. We encourage you to use the website to keep your chapter members informed of meeting dates and any special events and for Next page →

events in general in your area of the province that might interest other older adults or retired teachers who are not already members of RTAM. Call the office and talk to Denise Bellesia, the office administrator, or send us an email at info@ rtam.mb.ca.

As well as all of this happening, 42 student award applications have been received and the Student Award Committee is meeting in late August to decide on the four winners of the four $850 awards this year. The Winter KIT will have the names of the winners and their sponsoring relatives. Stay tuned!

This was all possible because a new Acting Executive Director, Daryl Harvey, new Office Administrator, Denise Bellesia, with the help of Nicole Welwood, our Member Services Coordinator who returned July 2 and filled in background information, have worked out the financial system in the office and are now prepared for the audit. Daryl Harvey came to us as a temporary replacement for the Member Services Coordinator in May and surprised us all with her previous experience as an ED with the City of Winnipeg and then with the Province. She agreed to come out of retirement to help us set up the office so that RTAM, as an organization that has been working toward having a Governance Board, can achieve that goal. RTAM will hire a part time Executive Director that will be trained by her before she goes back into retirement, which I hope is not for the foreseeable future. We could not have accomplished what we have without the hard work and cooperation of this great team.

And there you have it. Another relaxing, quiet, summer break. Hope you had one. Actually, I rather like the excitement and writing all these reports, while looking out over a lovely Lake-ofthe-Woods bay near Kenora on a hot gorgeous summer day. 

RTAM Photography

CONTEST

KIT Editorial Committee SUMMER 2019 PHOTO CONTEST

The two categories are: • Gardens: This can be any kind of garden: indoor or outdoor; container or in ground; personal or professional, etc. and anywhere in the world. • Eggs: Use your imagination: birds’ eggs, cooked or in the shell, decorative such as porcelain, chocolate, Ukrainian, glass, wax, etc.

Judging by Gayl Punzalan Creative Director of Blue Ink Media

Full contest rules and entry forms available at www.rtam.mb.ca and at the RTAM office.

All entries to be sent by mail, email, fax or delivered to RTAM no later than 3:00 p.m., October 1, 2019.