Mary Binder Shares Food for Thought for Attracting New Members

Mary Binder of the Washington's Tri-Cities Chapter joined our May meeting (in person) and shared some interesting insights about NARFE membership in the state.

In the 1960's, there were 11 chapters in Eastern Washington alone; today there are three: Spokane, Colville, and Tri-Cities. Most NARFE members are national only. The average age of members is 80 years. Where are the newly retired (60-65yo) and why aren't they joining chapters?

The two biggest reasons chapters are closing are 1) lack of communication (no newsletters, website or even personal calls and 2) the members that do participate in chapters are worn out; there is no one who left who wants to lead. Solutions: Chapters need communication; they need to be visible and communication needs to be frequent, even repetitive. To assist with burnout, we need to think outside the box, even share positions for chapters to survive.

To attract new members we need to tell current employees (not yet retired) about NARFE and we need to focus on people nearing retirement. Tri-Cities has invested in a presence with the Tri-Cities Business Journal who promote a seniors expo with 600-700 seniors attending. It may have a $900 charge, but seems to have been worth it in recruiting new members. Tri-Cities has also approached Rotary, senior centers, and Veterans Affairs.

Mary passed out a thought-provoking card so that members could list events and people who might assist with attracting new members. She suggested chapters consider subscribing to the local Business Journal, the Chamber of Commerce, the Visitors Convention Bureau, and attending postal conventions. She suggested developing communications material for booths at events including pamphlets and business cards.

Mary also shared a NARFE Elevator Speech intended for those scheduled and unscheduled encounters with potential members. The speech includes what NARFE is, what the organization does, and what value members receive by joining. The elevator speech can be accessed on the website under Members. Take a look and consider using it.

Everyone at the meeting appreciated Mary's messages, giving the membership and the Board food for thought regarding the Spokane Chapter. Thanks for the jump start, Mary!

May 2023

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Scott Robinson

During the week of May 7-13, public servants across the country will be recognized for their commitment to ensure our government fulfills the needs of all Americans and keeps the country moving forward in these unprecedented times. During Public Service Recognition Week, NARFE proudly joins other government organizations, Congress, and the White House to express gratitude for our valuable contributions. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics lists 42,600 government jobs in Spokane and Spokane Valley in March 2023. People fulfilling these jobs make government work at all levels, including city, county, state, and federal. I want to share about my recently hacked email. Some malicious person unknown to me sent an email asking for your help to everyone on my contact list. I sincerely hope you did not get sucked into their scam. If any email coming to you appears suspicious, then I encourage you to treat it with suspicion. Please verify before you respond, like many of my family and friends did. In my example, the responding email address looked very similar to but different from my true email address. It is deliberately designed to fool you. One thing you can do on your mobile device is to touch and release the sender’s name, which will open a window revealing the sender’s email address. On your computer’s email, you can hover the courser over the sender’s name for the same result. If you don’t recognize the email address, then delete the email.

Please call me at 208-661-7695 or email me at scottsoriole@q.com if you have any questions regarding Spokane Chapter 32.

ALZHEIMER’S (vacant Chairperson)

More than 6 million Americans live with Alzheimer’s disease. NARFE members have contributed $15.6 million toward Alzheimer’s research. Annual Walks to End Alzheimer’s across our country are great fund-raising events. This year’s Spokane Walk will be September 30, which will begin and end near the Clock Tower in Riverfront Park. I’m asking you to join me to walk as part of Team NARFE. Please contact President Scott Robinson about your willing interest. You can also look in NARFE Magazine for directly contributing to NARFE-Alzheimer’s Research.

Spokane Chapter is recruiting an Alzheimer’s Chairperson. If you are interested in sharing your learned knowledge with the group, then please contact any Officer or Director. With no chairperson, a village is needed to share information with our group.

PROGRAM (vacant Chairperson)

If you missed our April meeting, then I encourage you to go to narfespokane.org/news to read about last month’s guest speaker, Phil Altmeyer who talked to us about the Union Gospel Mission in April. Mary Binder will talk about her relationship as District Vice-president and the chapters in May. We hope to have Licit Garbe from Senator Murray’s Office speak in June. We won’t meet during July and August, but we’re planning Spokane Chapter’s 73rd birthday party in September. One of Spokane’s Hospices will talk to us in October. Ann Ozuna will present her annual review of Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) in November, and we’ll celebrate the holidays during December. That sums up the balance of the year, folks. Please join us at our May 8 membership meeting at 11:30 at Darcy’s Restaurant in the Spokane Valley. I hope to see you there.

Spokane Chapter is recruiting a Program Chairperson. If you are interested in sharing your learned knowledge with the group, please contact any Officer or Director.

Mary Binder, District Vice President

PRESENTER: Mary Binder – District Vice President, Washington State Federation

Mary Binder, District Vice President 1 and a member of Chapter 1192 Tri-Cities, will provide an update on the district, which covers Eastern Washington, provide an update on some recruiting initiatives that have resulted in several new NARFE members, and share some recruiting tips. Please come listen to Mary on how the Tri-Cities Chapter uses their Outreach Plan to recruit new members. Chapter 32-Spokane also has an approved 2023 Outreach plan; recruitment of new members is important in keeping healthy Chapters.

MAY CHAPTER MEETING MONDAY MAY 8, 2023 Lunch at 11:30 Meeting at 12:15 Darcy’s Restaurant 10502 E. Sprague Ave. Spokane Valley

darcysrestaurantandspirits.com

View Darcy's location on Apple Maps

The meeting will be available via ZOOM: The ZOOM information is: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84692463195?pwd=R3M0eFF0NzRaMFo3bTNvNERDNHBBUT09 Meeting ID: 846 9246 3195 Passcode: 137652 +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)

MEMBERSHIP

The Chapter is looking for a Membership Chair. If you are interested, please contact any of the Officers or Directors. Come be a part of a great group of people fighting for your benefits.

NARFE – PAC (Vacant Chairperson)

Remember: “the Congress giveth and the Congress taketh.” Some in Congress are looking at reducing our earned benefits during these uncertain times of reducing the federal government’s deficit spending. NARFE-PAC supports Fed-friendly lawmakers who understand that the government should keep the promises made to its public servants. NARFE-PAC bolsters the profile of our top issues and educates lawmakers on the issues that affect us most such as doing away with the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO).

You can contribute to NARFE – PAC using the contribution form found in the monthly NARFE Magazine or by sending a check, made out to NARFE – PAC, to our Post Office Box. The address is: NARFE, PO Box 4592, Spokane, WA 99220.

LEGISLATION Roger Bosky

A few weeks ago, Arlene Patton and I met with Licit Garbe, the recently appointed Eastern Washington Director for Senator Murray’s Spokane office. Ms. Garbe’s prior experience includes the Valley Chamber of Commerce, the Census Bureau, and other Congressional Representatives. She fully listened to and appreciated NARFE’s legislative concerns. And I can happily report that Senator Murray is a cosponsor of the Senate Bill (S597)to repeal the Government Pension Offset/Windfall Elimination Provision (GPO/WEP).

The meeting also produced a fortuitous happening. Upon learning that Arlene’s work experience was HUD, Ms. Garbe asked Arlene about Senator Murray’s recently announced $97 million funding package for Homeless Assistance in Washington. Arlene was on the board of this program and provided some local insight. This was a good example of how our work experiences as Federal employees can be of assistance to our community and foster productive relationships.

The bills to repeal the GPO/WEP “evil twins” continue to move through both Chambers of Congress. The House bill (HR 87) now has 219 cosponsors, and the Senate bill (S597) has 37 cosponsors. Let’s ask Senator Cantrell to get on the bus with her fellow Washingtonian Senator.

PAST VICE PRESIDENT Arlene Patton

LEGcon 2023 is scheduled for June 19-21, 2023, National has announced that this year’s conference will be held virtually. Registration is now open, so please be an

early bird and get your registration in. The

WSFederation has budgeted funds to cover 80 registrations.

Chapter 32-Spokane’s membership is currently 455 Chapter & National only members. A special welcome to the 10 former Wenatchee members that transferred their membership into Spokane, when the Wenatchee Chapter recently closed. We hope to see those members out for a Chapter meeting.

Chapter 0032-Spokane will be celebrating its 73rd anniversary during our September 11th Chapter meeting. We hope to have the National Region 9 Vice President and the WSFederation president join us for that meeting/celebration. Mark your calendar and come out and join us for the celebration.

WEBSITE Chris Smith

Work continues on the web. We are not alone. Other NARFE chapters are struggling with their websites and some regions have consolidated multiple chapters into a single website. We’ll continue to update our site and keep an eye on visitation to see if members find it more useful. It’s certainly a work in progress.

Soon a News only tab will be added to complement the Chapter Newsletter. The News tab is intended to focus on news of interest to members. If you have any articles, books, upcoming events, or local news to share with other members, send them my way so we can begin to populate this part of the web. I’ll also be populating the Events tab; Arlene suggested putting LegCon there, of course. We’ll be adding the Board Minutes on the website as well so that members can be in the know on what directions the Board is considering.

We’d like to make the website a more “go-to” reference for our members. Once we are underway, we hope members will find it informative and start visiting more than once a month.

Stay tuned!

Please contact me at redpoll@mac.com if you find any errors or have any pictures or pertinent articles that may be of interest to members. SUNSHINE Susan Harvey

Congratulations to Kathy Brooks, her Granddaughter, Amanda, was accepted into the Pediatric Residency program at Boston’s Children's Hospital on March 17th. And Amanda was married to Elton Lossner on April 15th.

The Chapter sends birthday and anniversary wishes to all who celebrate in May.

REMINDER, spouses can be members on their own OR can take over the membership of a deceased member.

If you become aware of good news, illnesses, surgeries, or a death of a member or family member, please contact me at 509-953-6828.

SERVICE & OUTREACH Kathy Brooks

We are planning the Pre-Retirement Seminar, or our future retirees. It is scheduled May 22nd and 23rd. If you are, or know anyone interested in attending, please reach out to Kathy Brooks at 509-954-6719, kmbrooks06@msn.com See the announcement under Events on Spokane's NARFE website.

NARFE is more than just a great magazine. Let them know! Promote NARFE anytime you can. The more members we have the more power to protect our benefits and retirement! NARFE = YOUR BEST BET FOR THE FUTURE!

SPOKANE SERVICE CENTER Narfe0032@gmail.com 509-954-6719

NARFE on the Web: National: https://www.narfe.org WSF: https://www.narfewa.org Spokane: https://www.narfespokane.org

Addressing Homelessness in Spokane

Phil Altmeyer speaks to NARFE Chapter 32

Our April meeting saw Phil Altmeyer, a 36-year veteran of Union Gospel Mission, deliver a presentation on homelessness in Spokane. Altmeyer outlined the mission's core values which include faith, hope, and love, and explained how these principles underpin UGM's approach to addressing homelessness. He also indicated that to address homelessness, people need to understand mental illness and addiction. Both are huge factors in creating and maintaining the problem of homelessness.

In the distant past, hobos worked for handouts (bums did not) and many people were addicted to alcohol. Ever since the filming of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in 1975 (filmed in Idaho), many mentally ill individuals were released from institutions. Unfortunately, these people were not able to sustain a job or healthy lifestyle and became homeless. In more recent times, Altmeyer believes drugs like fentanyl complicated the situation, creating almost immediate addiction, and have increased the numbers of homeless as well.

Altmeyer and UGM stress that the homeless need a sense of ownership and responsibility. He feels the Spokane City Council has enabled the homelessness by reinforcing bad behaviors and an atmosphere of lawlessness. When people check into UGM facilities, they are given chores and responsibilities to assist them in building self-respect and a sense of community. They are provided temporary shelter and support and are rewarded with more permanent housing. Services and support without accountability is not an acceptable solution.

Altmeyer highlighted the various programs and services offered by UGM which include temporary shelter and housing, meals and nutrition, addiction recovery, and education and job training. He mentioned some success stories and gave hope that the homeless cycle can be broken.