November 2020 WCRTA Communication
There are a few things to share with all of you both from the branch level and from ARTA. I trust everyone is staying safe and healthy but socially connected. There is important and exciting news from ARTA that many of you will already have seen or heard about. Please find attached the announcement from ARTA above.
The most recent ARTA Board of Directors meeting was held in September and the ARTA annual general meeting was held in October, both by Zoom. The important and exciting news is the move to self-administration of our health benefit plan stating Jan, 1st, 2021. As a result everything will be handled in house with a one stop shop. More staff are being hired and a new larger ARTA location will accommodate everyone. Please view more details and answers to questions on the ARTA website – arta.net. In August the investments of the Health Benefits Trust Fund were moved from Industrial Alliance to Russell Investment as it was deemed this company was a better fit for us going forward. In addition to the health benefits offered by ARTA another major focus for the association is advocacy on issues relevant and of interest to members and seniors in general. The current political climate in Alberta has provided lots of opportunity for advocacy for ARTA on a variety of issues this year such as the move of ATRF pension funds to AIMCo, changes to the seniors’ drug plan, long term care, health care in general, choice in education, and the elimination of the seniors’ advocate. At the beginning of October ARTA had 25,390 members with 23,436 enrolled in an ARTA benefit plan covering 37,012 lives. There is lots of interesting and valuable information on the ARTA website including videos and the annual report.
The election for Directors to the Alberta Retired Teachers Charitable Foundation will take place at the November ARTA board of directors meeting. If you are interested in this opportunity please let me know and I will forward you the nomination package which includes an acknowledgement form which should be returned by Nov. 13th.
At the ARTA AGM the winners from the ARTA Wellness Challenge were announced. Congratulations to Andrew Tiong, husband of WCRTA member Shirley Tiong, who was the winner of the highest individual time total.
Usually the Wolf Creek branch introduces and congratulates new retirees and honours those we have lost in the previous year at our fall breakfast. Until such time as we can meet in person and properly recognize these people please see the names below. In recent years we have also included spouses of teachers on our memorial list.
Retirees this year:
- Roxanne Anderson
- Brenda Brick
- Conny Brusselers
- Bill Carter
- Guylaine Girard
- Rob Haggarty
- Brian Holland
- Michelle LeBouthillier
- Beverly Martin
- Maureen Montegary
- Brian Oehlerking
- Mary Ormberg
- Maureen Orr
- Jane Palm
- Denise Pfeifle
- Lisa Shukin
Memorial List for 19/20:
- Gary Louis Dogterom
- Don Gammie
- Dorothy Hagemann
- Bob Johnston
- Merle Jones
- Ramon Llorente
- Heather MacMillan
- Joann Montegary
- Lee Varty
- Alex Waldron
