What a sad discovery we made during our meeting yesterday, January22. Our VP opened the meeting with not so great news about some of our members: Judy is down for the count, Rosemary's sister is in critical condition, and we lost Harridell. We ask that they be remembered in our prayers during the coming weeks. Joan read the minutes from our last meeting and they were approved. Mary F. is now going to be our sunshine person to send out cards when needed. The NCUMC Tea Room will be February 21 and 22. MarySue gave the treasurer's report. I gave the numbers : 31 present today with 64 members. Yea! up from the last few years. Our faithful foodies were thanked. Visitors were introduced. Lynn said we need to keep our membership cards as she got a discount at Home Depot. Good to know.
Susan introduced the speakers for today: a great group of folks from Water Mission. This is a non-profit group providing clean water to people who have none. Started in 2001 they have served over 4 million people with clean water. They have been to 55 different countries. They have different groups that visit schools and tell about and demonstrate how their system works. Some of our members became part of the demonstration. These filtration systems are made right here in North Charleston. You can tour the facility which opens to tours once a month. Teachers can access the lesson in a bucket here: lessonsinabucket.org.
These systems are very expensive at a cost of over $17,000 per unit. Now that includes transportation to the village/site. Right now they are using reverse osmosis system in the Bahamas. There will be a Walk for Water on March 21. You can help by rounding up your water bill. The little bit of change goes to their cause. Remember change adds up.
It was really a great information session. You can discover more about Water Missions at:
watermission.org
Our next meeting is February 19. We will have a catered meal by Jamie Westendorff and music to dine by. Looking forward to visiting with you all again.
Have a great afternoon! 💧💧💧💧
This blog will have the story of the Charleston County Retired Educators' Association (CCREA) , a group that fosters and nurtures future classroom instructors while keeping abreast of community events and educational trends.
Thursday, January 23, 2020
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
Will "Fall" Ever Start?
Looks like a cloudy day ahead. They say we will get some rain. Well I want cooler weather. Anyway I hope by our November meeting the weather will be cool. I just wanted to post that we will be collecting paper products for the church at this meeting. Five of us are going in together to buy the large paper towels and toilet paper from Costco. Maybe you all could get together and do the same. It is very nice that the church allows us the use of their hall for a reduced price.
See you in November!
See you in November!
Saturday, October 5, 2019
A New Year
What a wonderful start to our "New Year!" We so enjoyed the Lowcountry Singers from the senior center. They regaled us with show tunes. It was a toe tapping and a sing along performance.
Susan opened our meeting with the introduction of officers and committee chairs. She inducted these as our officers for this year. Judy gave a treasurer's report. We also had introduction of visitors. After this the chorus sang. Lunch was our concluding event. The food was provided by the officers and committee chairs.
I felt sad at the low number of our members attending our opening meeting. Of course I also realize that we are all getting older and maybe don't feel like venturing out. I would encourage our members to bring a guest or two to our next meeting. Let's get those number up!
I felt sad at the low number of our members attending our opening meeting. Of course I also realize that we are all getting older and maybe don't feel like venturing out. I would encourage our members to bring a guest or two to our next meeting. Let's get those number up!
Wednesday, May 1, 2019
Fossils, pirates and history...Oh MY!
Our April meeting was an informative one. Mary opened the festivities by welcoming and introducing our guests. We were updated on the welfare of several of our members. Mary also told us of how well received our school supplies were at Dunston and NCES. Susan reported that the singers fro the senior center will be the featured guests at our first meeting in September.Joan read our minutes and they were approved. There will be a scholarship committee meeting on May 2 to decide on the recipients. Mary then asked for reports of anyone who is volunteering several of our members spoke of how rewarding it was to be a reading partner. The CCPL will have a pop ups sale April 265. There will be book sales at the Johns' Island branch in July and one downtown in June.
Next Our featured speaker was introduced: Mike Cocker. Mike spoke about the Berkeley County Museum and Heritage Center. He told us that the current museum was built in 1992. They have many interesting things:
-Fossils: divers get them from the Cooper River and they have found dinosaur poop (that would be of major interest to my grandsons!)
-Gathering information and realia fro the Etowah Indian tribe. The tribal display will be housed in their own room.
-Francis Marion Exhibit
-an exhibit from the Berkeley County sheriff's office
-Colonial art
-Moonshine exhibit with a picture that has Al Capone in ti.
-Race cars fro Tiny Lund
- A Pirate Room: it is believed that Black beard was born in Goose Creek.
-Fort Fair Lawn: the remains of parts of it can still be seen. It is the only one still remaining in the U.S. from the revolutionary war.
Here is the site: https://www.berkeleymuseum.org
The museum has over 15,000 students in attendance each year. You can walk to the remains of the fort from the museum. It was a very interesting presentation. Thanks you, Mike! And since we have to babysit four of our grands in a couple of weeks I think we will make the trip to the museum....maybe a picnic lunch could be in the works.
Our next meeting is May 22 which is our scholarship luncheon. So get out those favorite salad recipes and bring them to our meeting. Cannot wait to see and sample what delights you all will bring!
Next Our featured speaker was introduced: Mike Cocker. Mike spoke about the Berkeley County Museum and Heritage Center. He told us that the current museum was built in 1992. They have many interesting things:
-Fossils: divers get them from the Cooper River and they have found dinosaur poop (that would be of major interest to my grandsons!)
-Gathering information and realia fro the Etowah Indian tribe. The tribal display will be housed in their own room.
-Francis Marion Exhibit
-an exhibit from the Berkeley County sheriff's office
-Colonial art
-Moonshine exhibit with a picture that has Al Capone in ti.
-Race cars fro Tiny Lund
- A Pirate Room: it is believed that Black beard was born in Goose Creek.
-Fort Fair Lawn: the remains of parts of it can still be seen. It is the only one still remaining in the U.S. from the revolutionary war.
Here is the site: https://www.berkeleymuseum.org
The museum has over 15,000 students in attendance each year. You can walk to the remains of the fort from the museum. It was a very interesting presentation. Thanks you, Mike! And since we have to babysit four of our grands in a couple of weeks I think we will make the trip to the museum....maybe a picnic lunch could be in the works.
Our next meeting is May 22 which is our scholarship luncheon. So get out those favorite salad recipes and bring them to our meeting. Cannot wait to see and sample what delights you all will bring!
Saturday, March 2, 2019
BBQ, Books and Volunteers
has been overwhelmed and needs help reshelving books. That is always quite a task.
Judy was called upon again to introduce our guest speaker: Brittany Mathis. She is the director of Friends of the Library. She is originally from Seattle Washington. Friends is a non-profit which raises funds to support our Charleston County Library programs. Our library has about 7,000 programs. The money is raised through book sales. There is one this weekend at the Otranto branch. Another fund raiser will be April 9 from 5:30 to 8:00 at the beer garden downtown. You get a free beer when you donate a book. Sounds like fun.
The library hosts many special events: Black Ink for to showcase local African American authors. Terry McMillan spoke at this event.
The Big Book Sale will be at the Omar Shrine Temple. It is a four day event and 300 volunteers are needed. Boy, that is a lot of needed people. I did join and mailed my form Wednesday. There is also a need for board members. So if anyone is interested let Brittany know. Don't forget to donate books. The age of the book does not matter.
After our speaker had answered a few questions we had our blessing. Then we partook of the delicious BBQ meal prepared by Jamie Westendorf. It was very, very good. We will keep him in mind for next year!
Looking forward to seeing everybody at our April meeting.
Tuesday, January 29, 2019
The New Year
Darn it is cold. But I guess it is winter and cold is to be expected. Our meeting went well. Mary opened the meeting and welcomed everyone. We had the usual reports. Judy Epps let us know that she is sending out the apps for the scholarship March 1. She hopes we have enough funds for two scholarships this year.
Mary reminded us that our February meeting will be a catered one (yea!). But it will be at this meeting that we should bring school supplies. it is that time of year that supplies are low. We will take them to a school or to the teachers' closet. They are so appreciative of what we bring them. So don't forget.
We also need to be gearing up to select nominees for the slate of officers for next year. That will be a difficult job as our membership is low although we do have over 40 members at this time.
Mary introduced John Thompson, an author and board member for Reading Partners. he spoke about his child hood and his interaction with educators. he asked us all to consider becoming a reading partner. A reading partner is matched with a school. He/she goes to the school at least one a week and helps students. There is a short training session before you venture out to the school. It sounds like a really worthwhile activity.
Again we had an amazing lunch with homemade soup and sandwiches and desserts. Thanks to all who brought stuff for us to share.
Mary reminded us that our February meeting will be a catered one (yea!). But it will be at this meeting that we should bring school supplies. it is that time of year that supplies are low. We will take them to a school or to the teachers' closet. They are so appreciative of what we bring them. So don't forget.
We also need to be gearing up to select nominees for the slate of officers for next year. That will be a difficult job as our membership is low although we do have over 40 members at this time.
Mary introduced John Thompson, an author and board member for Reading Partners. he spoke about his child hood and his interaction with educators. he asked us all to consider becoming a reading partner. A reading partner is matched with a school. He/she goes to the school at least one a week and helps students. There is a short training session before you venture out to the school. It sounds like a really worthwhile activity.
Again we had an amazing lunch with homemade soup and sandwiches and desserts. Thanks to all who brought stuff for us to share.
November 2018
Our meeting was held a few days after Thanksgiving. Mary opened our meeting and requested reports from our different officers: Joan read the minutes from our September meeting and were approved by the membership. Judy gave an accounting of our monies. Several interesting events were mentioned. Robin Rogers group is going to sing with the symphony at the Gaillard December 17. Other holiday festivities were mentioned.
Then, Mary introduced our speaker, Brian Hicks Brian is a reporter from the Post and Courier.(My grandad used to call the paper the "newsless courier.") He spoke on the how and where he got information for his new book. He also told of some of the events he chronicled in his writings.
We had a delightful lunch during which time Mr. Hicks signed his book for those who purchased one.
I keep wondering where a lot of our former members are. I also wonder how we can boost membership. If you all have any ideas please let me or Sandy know. All thoughts will be greatly appreciated.
Then, Mary introduced our speaker, Brian Hicks Brian is a reporter from the Post and Courier.(My grandad used to call the paper the "newsless courier.") He spoke on the how and where he got information for his new book. He also told of some of the events he chronicled in his writings.
We had a delightful lunch during which time Mr. Hicks signed his book for those who purchased one.
I keep wondering where a lot of our former members are. I also wonder how we can boost membership. If you all have any ideas please let me or Sandy know. All thoughts will be greatly appreciated.
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