Veterans' Day at William Cappel Elementary

Several LCARSP members helped make the Veterans' Day celebration at Wm. Cappel Elementary a success Friday, November 11, 2016.  They arrived at school early in the morning and helped filled hundreds of balloons with helium for the annual Veterans' Balloon Launch.  

After the program honoring our local veterans, the students took to the outdoors and released the balloons, each containing the school's contact information.  It is hoped some of the balloons will be found in the days and weeks ahead and those finding them will write back to the school to let the students know how far their balloons traveled.  

Here are a few photos of this special day.

LCARSP Participates in "Stuff The Bus"

Lincoln County Area Retired School Personnel, among others, helped with the "Stuff the Bus" event to gather school supplies and other children's items prior to the beginning of the 2016-17 school year.  Above, members and other volunteers sort donated items for our district's kids at the Bank of Old Monroe, Moscow Mills location. 

The August 6th event was sponsored by the Lincoln County R-3 Education Foundation whose vision is to foster a philanthropic community culture that enriches opportunities to maximize the potential of all children in Lincoln County R-III.

Robb Krieg, Board President, and Tracy Black, Foundation Director, would like to thank all who helped make this event a huge success!  These donations will help make life a bit easy for our students.  

A special thank you goes to the Moscow Mills Lions Club, Bank of Old Monroe Moscow Mills Branch, LCARSP, Preferred Family Health, People's Bank & Trust and ALL our great volunteers!

Photo courtesy of Robb Krieg and Tracy Black (LCR3EF)

Local MRTA Members Serve on Restorative Justice Board

Lincoln County has many active retired educators who make a positive difference in our community.  Several members of the Lincoln County Area Retired School Personnel have been serving on a unique justice program board.  The Restorative Justice program was created by the 45th Judicial Circuit in May of 2012.  The only other Missouri county with this program is Greene County.

The basic premise of the program is to work with non-violent persons that have committed a misdemeanor or felony for the first time and have been approved by the court to participate in the program.  Restorative Justice is more concerned with the preservation and restoration of relationships both at an individual level and at a community level.

The board works with the offenders for one year (or a specified period of time).  The offender is required to meet with the board, one time per month, as well as, with a probation officer each month. During the period of time in the program, clients assigned to the program must accomplish a variety of goals that may include community service hours, payment of restitution, completion of their high school diploma; writing of essays; taking a prison tour and completing other items, as deemed appropriate. 

Briefly, Restorative Justice serves to:

1. Bring about restitution for crimes in a way that benefits the victim, offender and the community.

2. To do so following a structured, effective timeline of steps.

3. End with greater satisfaction for all parties and a lesser chance of repeat offenses. 

During the course of the program, Restorative Justice asks these questions:

*  Who was harmed?

*  What is the harm?

*  What needs to be done to repair it?

*  How do we involve everyone?

After successful completion of the program, the Restorative Justice Board may recommend to the court that the offender is allowed to withdraw the plea of guilty and the case is dismissed. 

We extend a special  THANK YOU to these caring and dedicated individuals who donate their time to this program.  

LCARSP Visits Holocaust Museum

On Monday, June 6, 2016, a group of LCARSP members, Lincoln County Area Retired School Personnel, visited the Holocaust Museum & Learning Center in St. Louis. The museum was established to "teach lessons of the Holocaust inspiring all people to confront hatred, promote human dignity and prevent genocide."

                          

The group was treated to a personal tour by Sarajane, sister of Dr. Donald Mogerman formerly of Troy. The tour concluded with a testimony by Holocaust survivor, Mendel Rosenberg who shared his story, experiences, and memories. The visit strengthened our group's resolve to follow the museum's mission as stated by Abba Kovner, Partisan and Holocaust survivor, "TO REMEMBER THE PAST, TO LIVE THE PRESENT, TO TRUST THE FUTURE."

Those touring the Holocaust Museum included Jane A., Carolyn C., Barb G., Diana G., Jane K., Marilyn K., Nancy L., Joe and Susan P., and Nancy W.. The group later had lunch at a Czech eatery, St. Louis Kolache.

Crafters Sew Colorful Pillow Cases

April 12th, six LCARSP craft club members met and created 23 colorful 

pillow cases for the kids at the local crisis nursery.  

The group set up an assembly line of cutting,

pinning,

sewing, 

and ironing to make these cheery pillow coverings.

They will be donated, along with the flannel blankets made at last month's meeting, to our local crisis nursery.

The next craft club will meet May 3rd (10 a.m. - ?) and will be making microwave bowl holders and notebook holders.  If you are interested in joining, let Diana G. or Anne B. know, or email lcmoarsp@gmail.com. 

Local Teachers Receive Classroom Grants

Three $200 grants were awarded recently to several local teachers.  These funds will enable them to purchase supplies that will enhance their classroom instruction.       

Classroom Grant Applications were distributed to each of the four county public school districts (Silex, Elsberry, Troy and Winfield) and were open to those teaching Pre-K through 12^th grade.  Teachers were asked to describe their class and how the funds would be used.  Applications were submitted by teachers from three of the four districts.

Heather Bauer, K-12 Art Teacher at Silex, plans to use her funds to help pay for supplies to hook up new technology in her classroom.

Katie Maixner, ‘Class within a Class’ teacher at the Troy Ninth Grade Center, Troy, will use her funds to purchase Interactive Notebook resources to enhance the learning for her Algebra 1 students.

Heather Dahm, Fourth Grade Teacher at Winfield Intermediate, will be using her funds to build her classroom environment with resources for reading and math.  A first year teacher, Heather would like to create a learning environment where her students are excited to come each day.

The Lincoln County Area School Personnel make these Classroom Grants available each year to our four local school districts.  Members feel it is a great way to thank our local teachers for encouraging a new generation of lifelong learners.

LCARSP Craft Group Makes Flannel Blankets

Tuesday, March 1st was a cold and cloudy day outside but inside, eight LCARSP members met and made warm flannel receiving blankets for the local crisis nursery.

After a quick tutorial and lots of 'encouraging coaching,' the group got busy cutting fabric,

ironing and pinning,

and sewing.

Many hands made light work and within just a few hours, the group had over a half dozen blankets completed. 

Around noon, everyone took a break for a DELICIOUS lunch!

Since so much fabric was donated, the group decided to work on more of these 

self-binding blankets at the April 5th get-together.  

If you are interested in joining us, be watching for an email letting you know the specifics. 

When enough blankets are finished, they will be delivered to the local St. Louis Crisis Nursery.  We hope to also take a tour of the facility.

If you are interested in how these these cute blankets are made, here is a link to a youtube video showing the process.

(It will probably take you longer than the 10 minutes Jennie says!)

Region 13 Was Well Represented at Legislative Days

Wednesday, February 17th, twelve members of the Lincoln County Area Retired School Personnel traveled with other Region 13 members to the capitol in Jefferson City to meet with our state legislators.
             
Legislative Day has become an annual event for MRTA to show legislators that our group's numbers are large and our dedication is strong.  Members are encouraged to wear red and this year more than 1,000 MRTA members flooded the capitol with a SEA of red!  Alyse Stoll, MRTF Board Member from Raytown, said  "That 1,000 number makes an impressive note for the legislators as well as an eye-opener for first time attendees!" 

The morning's event began with a meeting in the Rotunda.  Several dignitaries, including a couple of legislators and our own MRTA Executive Jim Kreider, welcomed everyone.  

Stoll goes on to describe the rest of the morning's activities.  "With packets of materials to discuss with the legislators concerning protecting the benefits of its retirees from legislation that would be detrimental to our Public School Retirement System and retirees’ pension to asking for full funding of the state’s Foundation Formula. The attendees are in the hallways, elevators jammed, up the stairs, down the stairs (that’s sets of 15,15,15 stairs – whew!) making our way between like-crowds in our moment of connecting with our legislators. At lunch time, the “sea of red” was generating to the third floor to join the legislators for lunch. All tables were overflowing with pertinent conversations, becoming acquainted with fellow members throughout the state and ardent discussions of success in promoting MRTA goals.

Several of our LCARSP members were able to have their picture taken on the floor of the Senate!   The Senate was in session all night, finally adjourning at 6:00 a.m. the morning of our visit. 

MRTA Legislative Day is an annual event taking place each February.  Make plans now to attend this fun and interactive event next year!

Successful Legislative Day and Craft Club Update

Legislative Day was a success with over 1000 school personnel attending!!! We didn't get to meet with Rep. Pietzman or Senator Riddle, but a few of us did get an invite from Senator Riddle's secretary and intern to go onto the Senate floor during their absence. (The senate had a late night/early morning working on legislation) It was quite exciting and we even got our picture taken with Senator Parsons from Bolivar!

Update on craft club:

If you cannot attend and want to provide material, please let us know. We can buy the fabric for you or you can drop it off by Halo and Wings before March 1.

Date: March 1, 2016

Time: 10:00 a.m.

Place: Debby Suchland's house

Project: Flannel baby blankets

Materials:

Two complimentary pieces of flannel.

1- 1 yd cut

1 - 1 1/2 yd cut

If you want to sew, bring your machine and sewing supplies

We need people to sew, press, and cut. (These are not the tied polar fleece blankets we've made at the meeting, but are still simple to construct.)

Lunch will be provided. IF you can attend, PLEASE contact Debby or me by the 26th. We want to be sure we have plenty of food.

dg