BCREA March 2015 Meeting

On Thursday, March 19, 2015, the Barron County Retired Educators Association met at Lehman's in Rice Lake.  Registration began at 9:30 am with coffee and cookies.  The program for the meeting was County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald.  He spoke on scams taking place in the county and what to look for so you are not cheated out of your money.  As short buisness meeting took place lead by President Steve Eichman.  One visitor, Maxine Brickner, joined us for this meeting.

Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald speaks with member Frank Peichel.

BCREA January 2015 Meeting

On Thursday, January 15,  2015, the Barron County Retired Educators Association met at the Living Water Lutheran Church in Cameron, Wisconsin.
Registration began at 9:30 am with coffee and cookies.  At 10:30 am, a program was was presented by the Cameron High School Chamber Choir and Jazz Band.  The choir was under the direction of Beth Joosten and the Jazz Band under the direction of Mike Joosten.
The program was followed by a short business meeting lead by President Steve Eichman.  Two visitors joined us.  They were Paula McDaniels and Diane Peterson.
A sit down lucheon followed the meeting.  The next meeting will be March 19, 2015, at Lehman's in Rice Lake.  The program will be County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald.

November BCREA Meeting

On Thursday, November 20, 2014, the Barron County Retired Educator's Association met at 10:30 am at Bethany Lutheran Church in Rice Lake.  About 50 members attended this meeting.  Russ Fell of the DNR presented information on deer hunting, frack sand mining, and several other topics of interest of the members.

Due to the length of the presentation, the business meeting had to be cut short.  Several items of the agenda were left fot the January meeting.  The membership drive was stressed and the Top 10 key facts that set WREA apart from others.  BCREA now has a special door prize available to those who bring a guest to our meeting.

The two visitors attending the meeting were Pauline Rhodes and Tom Hall.  It is hoped that there will be more visitors attending the meeting in January.  Our January meeting will be held on January 15, 2015, at "New" Living Waters church in Cameron.

Russ Fell - Presenter

Tom Hall - Visitor

Pauline Rhodes - Visitor

Meetings BCREA 2014/15

Planned meeting dates, places and programs for BCREA are as follows:

November - Thursday, November 20th at Bethany Lutheran in Rice Lake.  The program will be Russ Fell from the DNR.

January - Thursday, January 15th at Living Waters Church in Cameron.  The program will feature student from the Cameron band and choir.

March - Thursday, March 19th at Lehman's in Rice Lake.  The program will be Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald.

May - Thursday, May 7th at St. Paul Lutheran in Cumberland.  The program will be given by the Barron County Office on Aging.

All meetings start with coffee and cookies at 9:30 am during registration.  The programs being at 10:30 am with a short business meeting to follow.  Lunch is served at noon.  Meal costs are $12.  Dues for 2014/15 for BCREA are $15 with those wishing to join WREA at $50.

Retirement Planning Session Held

On Tuesday, October 14, 2014, a planning session for retirement was held at the Cameron Middle School at 7 pm.  Thirty-four people hear an hour and a half presentation by Roger Byers about the Wisconsin Retirement System and choices retirees have to make upon retirement.  

All those in attendance seemed to enjoy Roger's presentation and many statements were made about how much they had learned. 

Roger remained after the presention and talked with individuals who had questions on the presentation or on their current situation.

Steve Eichman, BCREA president, also made a short presentation on WREA and BCREA.  It is hoped that those in attendance will consider joining these organizations when they retire.

Those in attendance were given an opportunity to join WREA as an associate member with their first year free.

President Steve Eichman

Roger speaking to group

Retirement Seminar Scheduled

The Barron County Retired Educator's Association will host a free seminar for participants of the Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) on Tuesday, October 14, 2014 from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm at the Cameron Middle School - Commons, 700 S. 1st Street, Cameron.

The focus will be on the Wisconsin Retirement System benefits and options.  The seminar is geared to all WRS participants (whether in education or not) who are planning to retire or beginning to think about it.  The presenter from the Wisconsin Retired Educator's Assoication (WREA) will be Roger Byers, a former benefit specialist with the Department of Employee Trust Funds (ETF).

To register, please contact John Osterloth at 715-234-4193 or email josterloth@charter.net.

2014 WREA Convention Held in Madison

President Steve Eichman and past-president John Osterloth attended the WREA State Convention held in Madison on September 23rd and 24th.  Many varied sessions were attended by the two BCREA members.
The opening address was made by Julie Underwood, Dean of Education at UW-Madison.  Her topic was: Support Public Education.  She presented many facts and figures to show how Wisconsin public education is currently doing and how the satistics show that the current climate in Madison government is hurting public education.
The next topic presented was that of Badger Honor Flights.  The presentor was unable to attend, but Clayton Chipman, a World War II vet who was flown to Washington DC with his grandson by Badger Honor Flights spoke of his experiences.  Those attending the convention were able to choose from many various topics including: Legislative session; Greater Power of Source; Myths and Facts about Depression and Aging; Know Legislators at the Grassroots Level; WREA Membership Training; Working with your Local Schools to Support Public Education; Cooking with Social Media; Man vs Mouse; and Rural with and Wisdom.
There were also speakers for the two luncheons and the banquet.  Wisconsin teachers of the year for 2013 and 2014 spoke to the group and Bo Ryan, Wisconsin Men's Basketball Coach spoke at Wednesday luncheon.
The last presentation was from Michael Williamson, Executive Director State of Wis. Investment Board(SWIB) and Bob Conlin, Secretary Department of Employee Trust Fund(ETF).  They spoke about the pension system, investments, and how the system is currently going.  Wisconsin pension system is 99.9% funded.  This is far better than most pension systems throughout the nation.  No one can predict the rest of the year, but possible senerios were presented.
Over all, those who attended were given a lot of information.

Julie Underwood

Clayton Chipman

Bo Ryan

John Osterloth and Steve Eichman