Your partner in pension protection

Once again, Division 43 hosted another successful pre-retirement CalSTRS presentation on March 6th. Thanks to the generosity of Riverside County, we had the use of one of their spacious meeting rooms in Indio. Some professors from College of the Desert came, and since the meeting was posted on the CalSTRS website, we had teachers from as far as Banning attending. They were so appreciative. It still is difficult out here to find a CalSTRS presentation without having to go to Riverside. Presentations are offered at the CTA office in Palm Desert and in Palm Springs, but they fill up fast. Kudos to Helen Smith who, with some consulting from Adele Ruxton, wrote a wonderful article about our 90+ years young members in last month's newsletter. If you would like to read it again you can go to our website: https://div43.calrta.org Division 43 also thanks the Coachella Rotary for donating $1,000 to our scholarship fund. This was all due to Joe and Terry Ceja, who organized volunteers from our

membership to collect parking fees for the Date Fair Parking.

For those who attend the monthly luncheons, and noticed the table centerpieces, those were decorated faithfully for almost 20 years by Betty Morgin. Sherry Encinias has graciously accepted the task of taking over Betty's job.

If you have been lucky enough to win one of the door prizes, put together by Patsy Meister, you can tell she had fun finding an assortment of gifts. Thanks to Patsy for doing this.

Congratulations to Cathy Claborn and Peggy Leo for being chosen to receive a 2019 Senior Inspiration Award from Riverside County!! That's two Division 43 members! Talk about volunteer hours! We are proud of you two!

In a couple of months, the CalRTA Convention will be coming to Los Angeles. I think it will be the best one yet. I was able to participate a little bit with the Convention planning committee. David Walrath is on one of the conven- tion flyers because he is our very important advocate for

Continued next page

Contact Information: • CalRTA: 1-916-923-2200 or

1-800-523-2782 http://calrta.org Membership number is your user ID; last name in lower case is your password.

• Area IX website: http://area9.calrta.org/ Director, Ron Breyer

• Desert Roadrunner webpage: http://div43.calrta.org

• Facebook: CalRTA Division 43

• CalSTRS: www.calstrs.com

• Medicare: www.medicare.gov

• HICAP: 1-800-434-0222

California Retired Teachers Association

Desert Roadrunner Division 43 http://div43.calrta.org

April 2019

Maggie Hamilton, President

Joy Bugg, Editor

~~~~~~~~

calrtadivision43@gmail.com

Plants are Your Best Friends 2

CVRM Needs Donations 3

Div. 43 Board of Directors 3

Check our Website 3

All About Volunteers 4

Missing Our Emails? 4

Reporting a Death 4

Legislation Update 5

Volunteer Opportunity 5

Luncheon Reservation 6

Membership Report 6

Adopt a Highway Cleanup 6

Medical Volunteers 7

Treasurer Report 7

Inside this Issue:

Your partner in pension protection

protecting our pension in Sacramento. I can't wait to hear him give us the current news! We are planning to see a College of the Desert version of the Phantom of the Opera on May 5th at the McCallum Theatre and Real Women

Have Curves at the IPAC on May 19th. We have scheduled another Paint Nite on Thursday, May 9th from 4:30 to 6:30 at Heritage Palm's craft room. It's $35 and includes a wide variety of hors d' oeuvres as well as all of the art supplies. Peggy Long will be the instructor. Eight have signed up already and 25 is the maximum. It should be a lot of fun with no stress! You can contact me if you are interested. The desert wildflowers are blooming all over the place out here. That has attracted tons of Painted Lady Butterflies. Patsy Meister has organized a trip to Anza Borrego to see the blooms. It's amazing what rain can do out here in the desert.

Remember: our last luncheon is the scholarship luncheon which will be held on the 2nd Thursday, April 11th. I hope you will come and support these high school seniors and their families.

Plants are Your Best Friends Step outside and you might discover that you feel better. Your world brightens with green everywhere and nature calls out to enjoy life. When

you step inside your home you might find your mood changes. The air indoors is not as fresh as it could be. Indoor air pollution is caused mainly by synthetic building materials, finishes and furnishings that give off-gas pollutants. Personal-care

The “Gang” after seeing the play “Hairspray”

products, pesticides and common household cleaners/products, food, drugs, dyes, or solvents also contribute to the problem. Biological sources such as insects, pests, molds and other fungi jump on board to make matters worse. Asbestos was a popular building material that was used up until the 1990s when it was discovered to be extremely dangerous leading to its ban in 1999. Though you hardly find it in new construction, it is still found in pipe covers, flooring, fireproofing insulation and many adhesives among other construction materials. It can cause chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and can also lead to lung cancer. If your home was built before 1978, there is a good chance it has lead-based paint. In 1978, the

federal government banned consumer uses of lead-containing paint, but some states banned it even earlier. Lead paint is still present in millions of homes, sometimes under layers of newer paint. Lead is found in roofing

One Last Call to Donate to CVRM! Only one luncheon/meeting left to bring items for the Coachella Valley Rescue Mission. Toiletries, sweaters, jackets, socks, light blankets, towels, books and games, etc., are always needed. Remember, we're talking about dona-tions for men, women and children. The mission "runs" an after-school program, so think paper, pencils, pens, crayons, puzzles, coloring books, both fiction and non-fiction books for K-12, stickers, glue, etc., but NO PAINT, PLEASE! Yes, I will be happy to transport whatever you have to donate. Also, remember, CVRM operates year-round, so items you collect during the summer, you may take to the

mission directly. Let them know: It's another donation from a retired teacher. Ask for a re-ceipt if you wish. Thanks again for ALL your donations this past year; we'll begin the CVRM project again in the Fall.

Your partner in pension protection

materials, paints, plumbing pipes and is highly poisonous. In 1973, NASA found the air inside Skylab was contaminated with more than 100 toxic chemicals. Without effective purification, space travel would not be possible. The space agency then hired Dr. Bill Wolverton,

former research scientist with NASA’s John C. Stennis Space Center, to head up the research team to clean the air in Skylab. Their findings were incredible! Dr. Wolverton discovered that houseplants are the best filters of common pollutants such as trichloro-ethylene, ammonia, formaldehyde, and benzene. Hundreds of these poisonous chemicals can be released by furniture, carpets, and building materials, and then trapped by closed ventilation systems, leading to a host of respiratory and allergic reactions now called “Sick Building Syndrome”. NASA scientists learned that virtually all indoor

plants clean the air of almost all known contami-

nants. The contaminants are sucked into the leaves

and migrate into the soil, where microorganisms

associated with the roots break them down and turn

them into plant food. Common plants like the Peace

Lily, Lady Palm, Areca Palm, Corn Plant, and Tricina

Marginada, all plants

used to decorate interior

environments, were found to

be effective air purifiers.

Essentially, any one of these

plants could purify the air in

100 square feet. The more

plants you have in the house or

office, the more pure the air becomes. Some

hardware stores that have an “indoor plant area”

have a listing of plants and chemicals they clean out

of the air. A word of caution: If you have children

and/or pets in your home some of the household

plants may be poisonous so you need to check each

plant carefully.

The National Aeronautics and Space

Administration (NASA) and the Associated

Landscape Contractors of America (ALCA)

conducted research using popular varieties of

ornamental plants to determine their effectiveness

in removing several key pollutants associated with

indoor air pollution. Their findings and the list of the

10 most effective plants in removing formaldehyde,

benzene, trichloroethylene and carbon monoxide

from the air are found at https://www.hgtv.com/

remodel/mechanical-systems/cleaning-indoor-air-

with-plants. You can also go to: https://

learn.eartheasy.com/articles/the-top-10-plants-for-

removing-indoor-toxins/ where you can view the

plant. Plants work well to clean the air out but if

you are interested in potentiating (improving their

effectiveness), you might want to add an air filter

system also. There are numerous systems that you

can find on the internet. References: Julian Whitaker, M.D (1996). Dr.

Whitaker’s Guide to Natural Healing. Rocklin,

CA: Prima Publishing

Cleaning Indoor Air with Plants retrieved from

https://www.hgtv.com/remodel/mechanical-

systems/cleaning-indoor-air-with-plants

Seaman, Greg. The Top 10 Plants for removing Indoor Toxins, 6

September 2017, https://learn.eartheasy.com/articles/the-

top-10-plants-for-removing-indoor-toxins/

Your partner in pension protection

Page 4

A record 74 Desert Roadrunner members returned their volunteer hours information by the February 28 deadline. They reported an awesome 46,898 hours of volunteer service for the year from March 1, 2018 through February 28, 2019. This represents a ten-year-high for BOTH number of responses AND hours served! The following valuable volunteers reported from not just here in the Coachella Valley but throughout Cali-fornia and Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Maine:

Have you been missing our emails?

We know some members have been having problems receiving email from us. I’ve communicated with a few members,

and it appears that, for some people, our emails are going into their spam folders. If you think you are missing anything – February’s and March’s newsletters, for example – please check your spam folder. If you do find past emails from CalRTADi-vision43@gmail.com in your spam folder, please “whitelist” our address. Here are some excellent explanations that show or explain how to whitelist the addresses you WANT to receive email from:

Go here – http://bit.ly/whitelisting1 – to

learn how to whitelist our email address if you have Gmail, Outlook, Hotmail, or Ya-hoo. (Outlook and Hotmail are both Mi-crosoft programs.)

Go here – http://bit.ly/whitelisting2 – to

learn how to whitelist on AOL, CenturyLink, and others.

Be sure to contact us if you have problems with this. And please remember that you can find all kinds of information about luncheons, meetings and other activities, as well as past and current newsletter issues on our website – https://div43.calrta.org

CalSTRS should be notified as soon as possible of the death of a member, retiree, option beneficiary, or payee receiving CalSTRS benefits. This can be done by writing to CalSTRS at PO Box 15275-C, Sacramento, CA 95851, or by calling CalSTRS at 916-229-3870 or toll-free at 1-800-228-5453.

CalSTRS will need the following information: • Deceased person’s name and Social Security number

• Date of death

• Individual’s status — retired, disabled, a member in active teaching status, an option beneficiary, etc.; and

• Name, address, and telephone number of contact person.

Janet Adams Linda Bailey Pamela Ballen Judy Basehore Joan Marie Beasley Janet Benavidez Elaine Bishop Iris Blaisdell Tina Blecka Dan Bohan Suzanne Bollard Maureen Boren Judy Bowlin Jenny Braithwaite Michelle Brewer Joy Bugg Rebecca Caldwell Judy Carey Evelyn Casino Nancy Cooper Christine Demick Jackie Dillon Jim Duke Dorothy Dupree Frank Encinias Maria Fernandez Angela Ficht Cathee Fields Josephine Gallegos Susan Golden Miles Gullingsrud Sylvia Gullingsrud Nancy Haas Carolyn Hallinan Margaret Hamilton Larry Hoffman Linda Holt

Marjorie Jansz Jim Jones Linda Jones Janice Jordan Sue Karr Janis Kaukola Deborah Knight Dora Lange Gloria Leckman Peggy Long David Lutes Lois Lynch Pat Mauritzen Bill Meister Patricia Meister Betty Morgin Renee Mottaz Denise Muller Kitty Occhino Dolores Pescador Priscilla Porter Debbie Rios Patsy Roth Bernice Rummonds Adele Ruxton Bettyann Sherrell Steve Sherrell Helen Smith Marilynn Smith Janet Soule Judith Stewart Linda Stowells Don Sturges Yvonne Weischedel Barbara Willis Clifford Willis Corrine Yates

A special thank-you goes to Web Manager Marilynn Smith, who spent many hours over several years to implement an on-line reporting form. At the March 14 luncheon meeting Ju-dith Stewart won the drawing for a See's Candies certificate. Please do not rest on the laurels of the reporting year just ended. The current reporting year began on March 1. It will extend until February 29, 2020. Start recording your volun-teer hours NOW for the tally-to-come.

Your partner in pension protection

A group of happy members enjoying the Heritage Palms Talent Show

Speaking of Volunteers, here is mem-

ber Debbie Loukatos volunteering at

the CV History Museum, showing how

ironing used to be done!

California rule upheld The California Supreme Court has

left intact the California Rule, holding that vested benefits cannot be impaired. This decision protects the retirement security of California's nurs-es, teachers, firefighters, school employees and countless other public servants and retirees depend-

ent on their hard-earned pen-sions. However, this victory does not permanently protect the California Rule. The justices are considering several other pension cases where the Califor-nia Rule may be revisited.

Charter School Transparency Bill, SB 126 A new California law requires the 1,300 plus

charter schools to follow the same laws governing open meetings, public records and conflicts of inter-est that apply to public school districts. They include ensuring board meetings are open to the public, providing records to the public upon request and, to prevent personal gain, banning board members from voting on contracts in which they have a finan-cial interest. CTA and the California Charter Schools Association endorsed this bill. Senate Bill 126 passed with lightning speed, with both Senator Jeff Stone and Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia voting yes.

Somethings to watch Five California teachers have filed a lawsuit

seeking to stop the state's top teachers union from collecting dues through mandatory paycheck deduc-tions, the latest in a series of similar legal challenges

filed across the country. The law-suit challenging the CTA's manda-tory collection of dues follows a U. S. Supreme Court ruling on June 27 barring the practice in the public sector. Teacher unions across the country have been bracing for liti-

gation since the high court ruled 5-4 that requiring dues payments forces public sector workers to en-dorse political messages that may be counter to their beliefs

Senator Sherrod Brown has introduced a bill to amend title II of the Social Security Act to Repeal the GPO/WEP: S.521. So far it has 13 co-sponsors. Senator Kamala Harris is a cosponsor. However, Senator Dianne Feinstein is not. Perhaps you should call Senator Feinstein's office, (202) 224-2814 or (310) 914-7300

Have you ever wanted to re-visit your old school site? Here is a marvelous opportunity to do just that and to spread some joy to your former col-leagues who are still "in the trenches." It's a one-time commitment to deliver goody packets to schools in the Coachella Valley or Desert Sands districts on or about Day of the Teacher, May 8, 2019. You are welcome to help even if you did not teach in one of the two districts. This is just one more way Desert Roadrunner Division sup-ports active educators. If you would like to help with a goody distribution to local schools about May 8, please contact Helen Smith at (760) 342- 1297. Many hands make light work.

.

Your partner in pension protection

We extend condolences to the family of Florence Spring of Palm Desert, who passed away at the end of January. She had been a member since 1985. We honor her contributions to education and to our organization.

Membership Rosters: Rosters for 2019 were mailed recently to those who receive communi-cations by mail. An updated version will also be sent to those who receive communications via email. Please check to see if there are any chang-es that need to be made to the roster. Send any change information to me at stgolden@gmail.com -Susan Golden, Membership

Our next cleanup is scheduled for Friday, March 29. If

you are able to help, please respond by email (found

on page 8) and I will get back to you with details in-

cluding time, safety, proper clothing, etc.

Thanks in advance, Jim Jones

Dear Readers, If you know any corrections that ever need to be made to the Division 43 Directory, please send those corrections to both of these people: Susan Golden stgolden@gmail.com Marilynn Smith writeacher@gmail.com

Greetings to all. We happily welcome the following new members to our fold.

November: Robert Blinkinsop, retired from DSUSD.

December: Robert Miller, retired from DSUSD

Ann Reinhagen, retired from CVUSD

January: Filiberto Perez, retired from DSUSD

Frank Griswold, retired from DSUSD

February: John Everett, retired from New Haven USD

Susan Everett, retired from New Haven USD

Fernando Heredia, retired from DSUSD

Each member is important, adding to our impact as an organization both in California and nationwide as we work to protect our pensions and improve our lives in retirement.

And here’s how it’s done- readers from two years ago

ponder who will be the lucky recipients of our local scholar-

ships! Write well and good luck!

Your partner in pension protection

Helping to bridge the gap in medical services in the

Coachella Valley is the goal of the Volunteers in Med-

icine (CVVIM). The clinic has for the last 10 years

offered C.V. residents free primary care services if

they have no health insurance, Medi-Cal or Medicare

and are unable to pay insurance deductibles or co-

pay.

Elizabeth Lievanos is the Volunteer Health Coordina-

tor who explained even more of the Volunteers in

Medicine scope of services. It offers primary care,

some dental, specialist referrals and diabetic coun-

seling. This is all done by volunteer doctors and

nurses. Even the secretarial work is done on a volun-

teer basis. Monies are all obtained through fundrais-

ing in the community and through grants. No federal

or state help is received.

The clinic sees 1,000 patients each year and helps an

additional 1000 patients with diabetes. Their ser-

NOTE: CVUSD Retirees younger than 65: Your dependents are still eligible

for the full medical plan. Questions? Contact CVUSD Risk Management

Balance - February 23, 2019: $15,739.08

Income: $2,712.94

Expenditures: $1,711.99

Balance - March 18, 2018 $16,740.03

Teacher Grant Account Balance: $2,240.48

Scholarship Account Balance $9,861.35

Teacher Longevity Award Account $363.42

Scholarship CD Balance $24,904.58

vices help

these dia-

betic pa-

tients navi-

gate the

system to

help get

necessary

sup-

plies. There are still over 30,000 valley residents

who qualify for the VIM services.

Ms. Lievanos explained the clinic has an outreach

program that attends food distribution centers

and health fairs where flyers are handed out. the

goal is for patients to be seen and treated rather

than become very sick, or not receiving any

treatment or hospitalization. All visits are confi-

dential never asking for one’s legal status.

The homeless population is served on Tuesday

nights when a group of 6-9 volunteers go out to

provide primary care offering aspirins and clean-

ing care of wounds. It is often difficult to find the

homeless as they move frequently. However,

they have learned to trust these volunteers clad

in orange T—shirts.

The clinic is always in need of more volunteers.

High school students in the Medical Academy as

well as students in college are welcome. Those

speaking Spanish are needed also to help with

medical translations. The facility is located at 82-

915 Ave. 48, Indio, and can be reached

at www.cvim.org. or at 760-342-4414.

Your partner in pension protection

California Retired Teachers Association

Desert Roadrunner Division # 43

PO Box 2188

NON-PROFIT

ORGANIZATION

US POSTAGE PAID

PALM DESERT, CA

PERMIT NO. 408

Current Resident or If you are receiving this newsletter in the

regular mail AND in your email, and you

want it only in email (saves Div. 43 $$)

please contact us at

calrtadivision43@gmail.com

Name ____________________________________________________ Address:__________________________________________________ City ___________________________________ State______________ Zip:______________ Phone: ____________________________ Email __________________________________________________ Year of Ret.: _______ District Ret. from _________________________

Please check your selected payment method:

□ Cash: $54 annually per person

□ Dues Deduction $4.50 (self) $9.00 (self and spouse)

Spouse name ____________________________ Social Security # (ONLY if signing up for dues deduction) Self _______________________________________ Spouse ____________________________________ I authorize the California State Teacher’s Retirement System (CalSTRS) to deduct my associa-tion dues. Should the amount of dues be adjusted as deemed necessary by CalRTA, I authorize that the adjusted deductions shall continue unless I notify the CalRTA business office in writing to the contrary.

Signature _________________________________________________________ Date ____________________

CALENDAR April 2019

Apr 4 – Board Meeting, 10 am-12 pm, Indio Library

Apr 11 – Luncheon & Meeting, 11:30 am-1:30 pm, Heritage Palms CC, Program: Scholar-ships Presentation and Installa-tion of Officers/Committee Members

Adopt-a-Highway– TBA

May 2019 • May 2 – Board meeting, 10 am –

12 pm, Indio Public Library

• May 9 – Paint Nite, 4:30 pm, Heritage Palms CC

• May 15-17 -- CalRTA Delegate Convention

• Adopt-a-Highway– TBA

Return Form to us at: CalRTA Div 43, Attn: Membership Chair PO Box 2188 Palm Desert, CA 92261-2188