Southern Region Meets at Rend Lake

Southern Region Retirees met recently at Rend Lake College for a tour of their Culinary Department. It provides career opportunities to many local students, and is one of the better ones in this part of the state.

Our thanks to Chef Robert Wilson who gave us the tour and shared much interesting information.

Pictured are Joy Richey, Martha Winter, Milly Kaiser, Martha Speir, Joyce Pyatt, Kathy Harrison, Carol Schlitt, Donna Whitlock Rumsey, Chef Wilson, and Rusti Grogan.

Shirley Martin also joined the group for lunch, and it was good catching up with her.

Most have likely seen the note from Carol Schlitt that the bus trip for September is full. Looking forward to a great time!

Member Update

Paula Robinson was looking forward to being a grandmother again.

She has also done some consulting with Catholic Charities on grants, etc.

Paula is part of a group that gets together the first Friday of the month in Springfield. Jananne Finck, Diane Duewer, Judy Taylor, Diane Ryals, Linda Smith and others enjoy catching up when they can. I'm sure I also missed some members of this group. Let me know if there are others.

Good News--For Now

This little bird was just outside our house last week looking for something to eat. Hope to see the end of winter soon!

Here is a note from NARFE about whether the Sequester of funds will affect retirement annuities.

Since President Obama issued the sequester order on March 1, many NARFE members have contacted Headquarters about the impact this will have on their retirement payments. NARFE President Joseph A. Beaudoin has stated: “To the best of my knowledge, there will be no impact on the issuance of annuity payments. According to the Office of Personnel Management, ‘Sequestration will not stop delivery of FERS and CSRS annuity checks. These monthly retirement benefits checks will continue to be issued.’” The NARFE “SequestrationFAQs,” available on the NARFE website, will be updated with information as it becomes available to us. You can access it directly by visiting: http://www.narfe.org/home/articles.cfm?ID=3229.