AUXILIARY OF UTU TIMES - Smart Union · AUXILIARY OF UTU TIMES “Alone we can do so little;...
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AUXILIARY OF UTU TIMES “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” ~Helen Keller Volume 17 June 2015 Things are very busy in the international office as we gear up for the region meetings. I hope to see many of you there and look forward to getting to know each of you better. For those of you attending the meetings please note when we will be holding our meetings: Tuesday and Wednesday in both Phoenix and Providence. Our meeting time will start at 10:45am and go until 12:30pm both days. On the Tuesday we planned a Special Event-Poolside Social at 1:30pm. The Poolside Social will be a time to mix, mingle and meet other Auxiliary members. It’s not a formal event with a schedule or presentations. Come, sit back, relax and enjoy some friendly company. As attendees, please make it a priority to attend all Auxiliary meetings as we have several presenters who will be providing some very useful information. And, as a special perk, we will be holding a drawing for gift cards at all meetings. Meeting attendees are eligible to win and who doesn’t love receiving gift cards? There will be one thing different in Phoenix which is a Special Event-Arizona Biltmore Hotel Tour that will be on the Tuesday starting at 10am and will finish up right before our meeting at 10:45am. On a different note, I wanted to let you know that we are at a critical time for the Auxiliary. We need to be looking forward to the future and not just what’s going on today. The Auxiliary is hurting financially and to survive we need to work together. We need to grow and expand. The best way to do this is to invite family members and spouses to our meetings and ask them to join. We can only help SMART-TD out if we become more united. We need to be more involved with our spouses and family members work because what affects them will also affect us in the long run. We need to be more legislatively involved to ensure the long-term success of our families and our Auxiliary members. We have a great scholarship program which we need to promote more. Our theme this year is a quote from Helen Keller: “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” We need to really take that quote to heart and work together to become stronger, to have a louder voice for SMART-TD, our spouses and
Transcript of AUXILIARY OF UTU TIMES - Smart Union · AUXILIARY OF UTU TIMES “Alone we can do so little;...
AUXILIARY OF UTU TIMES “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” ~Helen Keller
Volume 17 June 2015
Things are very busy in the international office as we gear up for the region
meetings. I hope to see many of you there and look forward to getting to know each of
you better.
For those of you attending the meetings please note when we will be holding our
meetings: Tuesday and Wednesday in both Phoenix and Providence. Our meeting time
will start at 10:45am and go until 12:30pm both days. On the Tuesday we planned a
Special Event-Poolside Social at 1:30pm. The Poolside Social will be a time to mix, mingle
and meet other Auxiliary members. It’s not a formal event with a schedule or
presentations. Come, sit back, relax and enjoy some friendly company.
As attendees, please make it a priority to attend all Auxiliary meetings as we have
several presenters who will be providing some very useful information. And, as a special
perk, we will be holding a drawing for gift cards at all meetings. Meeting attendees are
eligible to win and who doesn’t love receiving gift cards?
There will be one thing different in Phoenix which is a Special Event-Arizona
Biltmore Hotel Tour that will be on the Tuesday starting at 10am and will finish up right
before our meeting at 10:45am.
On a different note, I wanted to let you know that we are at a critical time for the
Auxiliary. We need to be looking forward to the future and not just what’s going on
today. The Auxiliary is hurting financially and to survive we need to work together. We
need to grow and expand. The best way to do this is to invite family members and
spouses to our meetings and ask them to join. We can only help SMART-TD out if we
become more united. We need to be more involved with our spouses and family
members work because what affects them will also affect us in the long run. We need to
be more legislatively involved to ensure the long-term success of our families and our
Auxiliary members. We have a great scholarship program which we need to promote
more.
Our theme this year is a quote from Helen Keller: “Alone we can do so little;
together we can do so much.” We need to really take that quote to heart and work
together to become stronger, to have a louder voice for SMART-TD, our spouses and
family members. I’m looking forward to us becoming a STRONG FAMILY and to be more
UNITED and to WORK TOGETHER because together we will make a difference.
In closing, I would like to mention that our District Vice Presidents are taking the
challenge to be more involved with the lodges from their district. They will be reaching
out to introduce themselves and to offer any assistance. Listed below are our lodges
broken down by districts and the Vice President over them. Please locate your lodge and
familiarize yourself with your Vice President. If you have any questions, we are asking
you to contact them directly so that we can open the lines of communications between
members and Vice Presidents. This will allow Vice Presidents to get to know you and
your lodge better and allow our office to focus more on growth. All these changes
together will help us to become a more unified group to accomplish great things in the
coming years.
District 2
Julie Fritter
(703) 626-6998
Dist. Of Columbia (398)
Massachusetts (587 & 948)
Pennsylvania (376 & 711)
District 3 MaryAnn Clements
(205) 856-1846 [email protected]
Alabama (318 & 622)
Georgia (606)
Mississippi (707)
N. Carolina (580 & 725)
Tennessee (439)
Virginia (377, 818 & 960)
District 4
Anna Mae Whaley
(419) 874-5827
Indiana (500)
Ohio (5, 225, 565 & 897)
District 5
Vickie Nelson
(608) 429-3703
Illinois (932)
Iowa (199)
Wisconsin (200 & 311)
District 6
Carol Menges
(573) 353-0469
Colorado (583)
Kansas (391)
Missouri (28 & 933)
Nebraska (456)
District 7 Nickie English
(210) 831-3799 [email protected]
Louisiana (817)
New Mexico (958)
Texas (170, 206, 264, 281,
331, 489, 508, 851 & 953)
District 8
Barbara Purdon
(406) 749-0279
Arizona (113 & 700)
California (156)
Idaho (78)
Montana (228 & 486)
Nevada (117)
Utah (136)
Washington (426)
District 9
Pat Maccagno
(902) 445-4904
Nova Scotia (667)
Alberta (333)
In Sisterly Love, Kathryn Hastings International President (216)521-1161 [email protected]
LETTER FROM THE INTERNATIONAL SECRETARY/TREASURER
Hello Everyone, You may have noticed from our last newsletter we are trying to cut cost. In April we held our annual Board of Directors and Executive Board meetings by conference call instead of flying everyone to Ohio. This was a first for the Auxiliary as these meetings have always been held in person. This change saved us the cost of flights, lodging and meals for 12 members. So far this year the only people that we had the expense of coming into our office were the Board of Trustee’s which has 3 members and our National Legislative Director. The Chairman of the Board of Trustee’s was here for 5 days while everyone else was here for only 3 days. We got a lot accomplished during that time.
We have been busy with the CPA getting everything in order and we’ve held multiple interviews with different financial investment companies. The Auxiliary is in financial crisis. ALL of the financial companies have told us that we have anywhere from 5-8 years before we run out of money unless we get more income and if the stock market holds steady. The assessments we receive don’t even cover one month’s operating costs. We are doing everything we can but we need our members help in this matter.
We at the International have held two fundraisers. We are planning to do more in the near future. We are going to be looking into grants, estate gifting, and anything else that can generate money for the Auxiliary. If you have any suggestions or ideas that you think could help us in anyway please contact our office or email one of us.
In Sisterly Love,
Kathy Callahan International Secretary & Treasurer (216) 521-2522 [email protected]
UTU Auxiliary National Legislative Director
I want to start this article by sending a prayer to the families and those affected by the Amtrak Passenger train derailment in Pennsylvania. It is a shame that the news media and citizens do not pay attention to the work environment of a railroad employee until a tragedy happens. We, as members of the Auxiliary and a family, not only pay attention but we live it every single day. The engineer of that train has stated that he “Does not remember anything about the crash.” The “black box” shows that the emergency break was pulled moments before the crash. The fact of the matter is…if there would have been more than a ONE MAN CREW… all of these could have possibly been avoided. So, when you hear the train companies talking about “inward facing cameras, positive train control, etc…Just remember…there is NOTHING that can replace another human body in the train cab.
If you have not signed up to support H.R. 1763, the Safe Freight Act…what are you waiting for? The Safe Freight Act would require that freight trains are operated by at least two crew members - a certified engineer and a certified conductor. Ask your Representative to sign on as a cosponsor today! http://www.congressweb.com/smart_transportation <-- go to that website to easily show support. And remember to always consider donating to UTU PAC.
With that being said, we just completed our Board of Directors meeting. I want to let you all know about some of the discussions and also give you another “call to action.” As most of you know, when I am not working to support the rail, air, and bus industry, I work as an insurance agent and Financial Advisor in Texas. I was asked to sit in on some meetings with our some prospective Financial Advisors as well as our current one. The current advisor didn’t have good news when we asked how long the Auxiliary has. They said at our current membership and assessments coming in, we may only survive another 5 years.
The future of the Auxiliary depends on YOU. Please consider making a donation to the Auxiliary General Fund. Please consider raising assessments from $7 to something more substantial. The $7 collected from each member only covers ½ a month’s operating expenses. It doesn’t even cover the postage to communicate with the lodges for the year. We MUST do something. It isn’t too late to act, but the time is NOW. Consider making the Auxiliary a beneficiary in a life insurance policy and I can even answer questions about how to set this up.
The new Grand Lodge officers are settling in nicely and have pretty much cut every penny they possibly can from the budget…We need more members, lodge and most of all NEED YOU! We are the Auxiliary to one of the BIGGEST and STRONGEST UNIONS in the world. We have stayed strong and united through the good and bad. This is one of those times that will make or break the organization. I pledge to you all, I will do all that I can to ensure our future is bright. Will you do the same? Fraternally Yours, Scott Saunders National Legislative Director (512)304-8411 [email protected]
302 NW 6th Street Smithville TX 78957
Auxiliary of the UTU Scholarship Fund News – Jun 2015
ANNUAL BOARD MEETING
The members of the Auxiliary of the UTU
Scholarship Fund Board of Directors met in North
Olmsted, Ohio on April 21st thru 23rd, 2015.
During the meeting, scholarships were drawn from
the 37 applications submitted by Auxiliary members
for the 2015 - 2016 school year. The Board must
“spend” at least 5% of our average annual net worth
on scholarships to meet our IRS obligations.
Through a random drawing, the Board awarded
twelve (12) scholarships this year. These
scholarships were drawn by Susannah Bender,
Assistant General Counsel, Transportation Division,
SMART-UTU the afternoon of April 23rd
, 2015.
2015 SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS
The following winners of the $1,000 Auxiliary
Scholarships for 2015 - 16 are listed in the order the
applications were drawn.
Daniel Tressler grandchild of Elaine Tressler
Lodge 565, Toledo, OH
Riley Manning grandchild of Joyce Manning
Lodge 933, Jefferson City, MO
Alexander Trost grandchild of Goldie Trost Yuan
Lodge 565, Toledo, OH
Cornelis Held child of Jade Held
Lodge 28, St. Louis, MO
Christa Martin child of Cindy Martin
Lodge 3, North Olmsted, OH
Timothy Tressler grandchild of Elaine Tressler
Lodge 565, Toledo, OH
2015 SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS con’t
Renee Conley grandchild of Roberta Butler
Lodge 725, Hamlet, NC
Austin Bammer grandchild of Marilyn Stegmann
Lodge 932, Belleville, IL
Megan Grzesiuk child of Diane Grzesiuk
Lodge 711, New Castle, PA
Brian Magnuson grandchild of Linda Stoffer
Lodge 932, Belleville, IL
Bailey Elliott grandchild of Shirley Nolte
Lodge 28, St. Louis, MO
Kaitlyn Walsh step-grandchild of Patricia Walsh
Lodge 398, Wahington, DC
Congratulations to
all of the winners and their families!
Personal Donations
Delores Deal, Lodge# 565 $ 20.00
Lucy Lucker, Lodge # 264 $ 25.00
Lodge Donations
Fort Worth, TX, Lodge # 170 $ 50.00
Lincoln, NE, Lodge # 456 $200.00
New Castle, PA, Lodge # 711 $100.00
Donations for future scholarships will gladly be
accepted from Lodges or individuals. Donations
should be made payable to: Auxiliary of the UTU
Scholarship Fund.
Mail to: Patricia England
Scholarship Fund Treasurer
2153 N Hwy 99
Emporia, KS 66801-8101
Our Sincere Thanks to all Lodges and individuals for their continued generous
support to the Scholarship Fund !
SCHOLARSHIP FUND BOARD ELECTION
OF BOARD MEMBER
Election of officers was held at the Annual Meeting
on April 21th; Carol Menges – President, Bonnie
Garrett – Asst. to the Board President, Geralyn
Gardner – Secretary, Beverly Stoops – Asst. to the
Secretary, Patricia England – Treasurer.
Congratulations to all of the board members!!
STUDENT LETTERS OF APPRECIATION
Auxiliary of the UTU Scholarship Fund Board,
I am very grateful for the scholarship your
organization has given me the past three years. I
graduated with my Bachelor of Science in Business
Administration with a concentration in accounting.
My future endeavors include working for a public
accounting firm along with obtaining my CPA
license. Thank you again for the scholarship.
Kyle Menges – Alternate who graduated
Sponsor: Geneva Menges, 933
******************
Dear Scholarship Board,
Thank you very much for the scholarship you
awarded me. The yearly amount of $1,000 for 4
years will be very helpful financially.
Sincerely,
Ethan Grasmick – 2014 Winner
Sponsor: Linda McComas, Lodge 3
*******************
Dear Scholarship Board,
Thank you so much for this scholarship, I
appreciate it so much!! I was so happy when I found
out I got the scholarship as it will help greatly with
paying for my school to become a respiratory
therapist!
Thank you again!
Hannah Magrum - 2014 Winner Sponsor: Wilma
Kappel, Lodge 933
BOARD NOMINATION PROCESS BEGINS
In the months ahead, we will be electing one (1)
Auxiliary member to serve on the Scholarship Fund
Board for a three (3) year term beginning in April of
2016. Inserted in the September issue of the
Auxiliary newsletter, each Lodge Secretary should
receive the nomination form and instructional letter.
Lodge Presidents should receive a memorandum
telling them about the nomination process. Each
Lodge may nominate one (1) member to run for a
Scholarship Fund Board position. Nomination
forms must be returned postmarked by October 1,
2015.
The Scholarship Fund Board is looking for
individuals who have both the ability and the
willingness to serve. Each board member holds an
office with assigned responsibilities throughout the
year. Although the position is not salaried,
expenses will be reimbursed according to
Scholarship Fund Board policies. Lodges are
encouraged to nominate qualified candidates.
The upcoming election information and ballot will
be sent out with the December Auxiliary newsletter.
Lodges will be able to vote and return ballots
postmarked on or before February 15, 2016.
RENEWAL SCHOLARSHIPS FOR 2016
Scholarships awarded thru the Auxiliary of the
UTU Scholarship Fund may be renewable for up to
four (4) continuous years if certain requirements are
met. Students must be enrolled full-time and
maintain at least a 2.0 grade point average to qualify
for the continuous renewal award.
For the upcoming Fall 2015 term, a possible 33
scholarships could be renewed. Students should be
receiving their renewal informational letters by
June. When a student completes their education or
does not meet board criteria, the next available
alternate is offered the remainder of the scholarship
award.
PLEASE NOTE: Reminder to Auxiliary Sponsor
Members – membership must be retained
throughout the duration of the scholarship
award.
Lodge 281 Houston/Missouri City, TX Happy New Year from Our Lodge
We hosted our 1st Annual Christmas Gala/Toy Drive. It was a wonderful night of dancing and collecting toys for underprivileged children. We partnered with Jingle Bell Jam in the Houston area and distributed toys to over 200 children at the St. John Methodist Church in Houston TX. The past year we said our final good bye to Mrs. Melba Rose Darkis, she was a charted member and we will miss her beautiful smile. We look forward to doing more in the community in 2015.
Congratulations
Mrs. Katrina Monroe for being named HAABSE Teacher of the Year 2014--‐2014. United Transportation Union Auxiliary Lodge 281 Houston/Missouri City, TX
Lodge 933 Jefferson City, MO Members of #933 went to take lunch and visit a Lodge member who hasn't be able to get out. Carol Baker (center) Back Row: Left to Right: Debbie Hibdon, Doris Adams and Carol Menges.
Lodge 711 Shooting Stars - New Castle, PA for sharing these pictures and baking for our men and women in the Arm Services.
Captain Preston message after receiving lodge 711’s cookies Dear Lodge Shooting Stars; Thought you would love the forwarded message! You made Jeremy's Day/week/month! Thank you so much, Love you all, Carol Carol S. Menges *************************************************************************************************************** UNCLASSIFIED//NONE
Cookies arrived! Holy cow that was a lot of cookies! I'm going to get fat... Everyone was pretty excited when I sent out a mass email telling them to come get some cookies! Respectfully, CPT Preston, Jeremy A HHD Commander 419th MCB NIPR: [email protected]
Grand Lodge Hot Dog and Brat Fundraiser
We invited the entire building to join us on May 7, 2015
A BIG thank you goes out to our cooks and servers Top row left to right: Scott Grant who gave up a golf game and Bruce Karl who retired on April 30, 2015 both made a special trip in to help man the grills. Mary Kay Gubics - Office Manager, Kathryn Hastings - President and Kathy Callahan - Secretary/Treasurer.
Make it: We are currently using this as our logo
Clever
Creative
Gender Neutral
Identifying
Modern Submit your entries by September 1, 2015 to Auxiliary of the United Transportation Union
24950 Country Club Blvd, Suite 340 North Olmsted, OH 44070
or email us at [email protected] Just think your winning design could be on all of our future stationery, newsletter, correspondence and business cards. Put your creative juices to work! You’ll be famous! More than your 15 minutes of fame! It’ll be everywhere!
