NCRGEA is inviting all retirees from public service, both state and local, to join us for refreshments and a discussion of issues that affect public service retirees of North Carolina.
We’ll talk about current legislative issues, retiree issues, and retirement benefits available to all public service retirees.
This is a great opportunity to meet and speak with other retirees who share the same concerns you have and to talk to Josephine, Outreach Coordinator at NCRGEA, with your questions.
Registration is FREE: Click on the button at the top or use this link.
Location:
Mount Airy Public Library | 145 Rockford Street Mt Airy NC 27030
George Preiss hasn’t always been the outdoorsy type. When he began his career as a middle school language arts teacher, he befriended a colleague who kept inviting him to go camping, but he always declined. Finally, Preiss decided to accept the invitation and to his surprise, ended up loving the experience.
“Driving home from that first trip, we crossed the sign indicating the Appalachian Trail, and I was like, ‘What is the Appalachian Trail?’ I’d never heard of it,” Preiss says. “My friend explained that it was a 2,000-plus mile continuous trail through the Appalachian Mountains. And I told him, ‘We’ve got to do that.’”
Over the years, Preiss began to see hiking the Appalachian Trail as a goal for retirement. And when he wrapped up his teaching career in December 2022, he set his sights on finally making the hike a reality. Though he maintained an active lifestyle of walking and biking around his home in Wilmington, NC, Preiss says he didn’t do much hiking prior to tackling the trail.
“I showed up cold turkey, and I’d say a quarter to a third of the people I met on trail had a similar story,” he says. “This was their first hike. So it’s not that uncommon for people to get this idea in their head and do it.”
Preiss did other prep work, though, purchasing all the equipment he’d need on the trail and planning his trek to maximize the best possible weather conditions. On March 11, he set out from the southern entrance of the trail, in Springer Mountain, Georgia. From there he spent the next 201 days—minus some breaks to nurse injuries—traversing the Appalachian Trail through Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.
Preiss says that one of the biggest misconceptions about hiking the Appalachian Trail is the belief that you’ll be alone in the forest the entire time. While he certainly enjoyed plenty of peaceful solitude hiking and camping through the wilderness, the journey also included stops in trail towns along the way where hikers can rest and replenish supplies.
After completing his trek in September, Preiss says he has gained a greater appreciation not only for hiking, but also his ability to face a challenge.
“I realized pretty early on that I’m a very determined person, and when I commit to something, I’m going to finish it,” he says. “But I’ll never do a six-month hike again with that magnitude. I did learn to love hiking, and I’ll love to go out for a week at a time and go see some new places in the United States—it’s going to be really fun.”
Fitness has always been important to Julie Lowery. As a certified registered nurse anesthetist for more than 25 years at UNC Hospitals, Lowery saw fitness as an extension of her health—a way to keep her body strong and vibrant.
NCRGEA welcomes our members, pre-retirees and guests to Raleigh on Monday or Tuesday | April 1 or 2 for our Spring Conference! The venue space is limited, so we are offering the event again on Tuesday. Please choose which date works best for you.
We’ll have free continental breakfast to enjoy as you attend our morning sessions, which include:
“Medicare and Healthcare” by CenterWell
“Local Landscaping Tips” by NC Cooperative Extension
“Brain Fitness” by Brookdale Senior Living
There will be many vendors at information tables to answer your questions and provide one-on-one assistance. Giveaways will occur during the day!
Breakout sessions for state and local government retirees will be held to provide updates on your benefits. Candidates for State Treasurer will speak; this is the office that manages the pension for our retirees. Our current State Treasurer will discuss the current news from their office, and presentations will be given by the State Employees Credit Union, the Local Government Federal Credit Union, as well as CenterWell and AMBA.
Door prizes will occur throughout the presentations!
We will have a catered lunch that is free, and we hope you bring a guest to also enjoy this day of fun! They will also attend free~
By Deryl Davis Fulmer, PhD NCRGEA Community Liaison
Over the past year, it has been our pleasure to offer opportunities for members to engage and stay active with NCRGEA. As we move into a new year, we want to take time to recap 2023 and encourage continued engagement in 2024.
In 2023, NCRGEA launched new activities and broke new ground with our outreach efforts while maintaining personal service. I often hear from the office that “the phones are hopping.” Our amazing staff, Margaret Burrell and Cathy Spruill, stay busy each day answering the phones. I heard through the grapevine that they and all others in the office answer hundreds of calls each day and thousands every year. The greatest compliment we often receive is, “I can’t believe I got a live person on the line, and you all helped me!” Thanks, Margaret, Cathy, and the staff at NCRGEA!
In addition, Outreach Coordinator Josephine Lanier, has been traveling across the state, meeting with small groups at our Local Community Outreach Meetings. While there, she explains our benefits and gives a brief legislative update. Check out the “Upcoming Events” list to see when she will be in your area.
In 2023, we added a tool called FastDemocracy, which aids us in our advocacy efforts to key leaders. Last May and June, with our initial use of FastDemocracy, we may have influenced the General Assembly in passing a bigger bonus than the 1% bonus initially proposed. Members sent more than 6,000 letters to their state representatives and senators, resulting in a 4% bonus. When you receive these requests, please use this tool—instructions come with our requests, making it easy to participate.
Our Community Advisory Boards (CABs) are up and running in each of the nine districts. COVID actually helped us to understand the needs of our membership better, as we were challenged to find new ways to engage our membership. We went to cyberspace and quickly learned how to use Zoom, Facebook, and X (formerly Twitter). We found that many of you were learning those modalities simultaneously with us. At the same time, we stepped up our website presence to improve engagement.
Currently, we seek chairs/co-chairs for each of the CABs. Some of you have already accepted the challenge, and we are grateful! We would like to have more of you involved so we can begin hosting fun and informative activities across the state. Please consider joining your CAB and give input for planning activities and other ideas to help retirees remain active and engaged. Your voices help us enhance and maintain retiree benefits.
Last June, we launched the virtual Lunch and Learn webinar series. These programs occur monthly on Wednesdays from 12:30–1:30 p.m. Hundreds of you have enjoyed and benefited from such offerings as Aging Un-Lonely, Social Security Updates, Estate Planning, Long-Term Care, Getting Ready for Aetna and AMBA Benefits and How to Access the Passport Discounts. Tune in and invite your friends to these informative sessions. Membership is not a requirement to participate. Watch your email and website announcements for info on upcoming sessions.
We also joined two major efforts this year as 200 NCRGEA members participated in the March for Meals Champion Week for Meals on Wheels. We plan to join this effort again on March 18–22. Please watch for the notices as we get closer to March.
On Oct. 7, several staff and family members joined the Walk to End Alzheimer’s in Raleigh. It was an amazing walk to raise funds for the research and services needed to address this growing issue. Please consider joining such efforts in your respective communities, and if you have, we will feature you in our “Active and Engaged” Facebook posts.
By 2031, the age 65 and older population in North Carolina will be larger than our 18 and under citizens. NCRGEA recognizes that efforts to reimagine aging are paramount for our future. By making you aware of the services and activities you can join efforts in, we hope that we can contribute a small part to healthy aging and your joy in retirement.
Throughout 2023, I featured several agencies and opportunities for volunteerism. I also included the Hometown Strong initiative through Governor Cooper’s office for those interested in part time employment. If interested, please take advantage of these opportunities to stay active and engaged.
Finally, NCRGEA has joined forces with “All Ages, All Stages, A Roadmap for Aging and Living Well,” the governor’s initiative to make North Carolina an aging-friendly state. The initiative aims to ensure that programs and services are addressed to help everyone age in place and the best environment possible. If you are interested in your voice being heard regarding housing, homelessness, food security, social connectedness, transportation accessibility, broadband accessibility, and community safety and protection pertaining to aging in North Carolina, please get in touch with me. We welcome your voices and input in our mission to help you become active and engaged.
As always, if you have questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me at Deryl@NCRGEA.com.
Alan Foster isn’t the type of person to just sit around. Foster retired in 2009 from a career that included four years in the Air Force and more than two decades as a paramedic with Wake County EMS. After retirement, he took on a part-time role with Rex Hospital, where he currently serves as the director of emergency preparedness management.
While that work kept him busy, the desk job didn’t give Foster the same active lifestyle he enjoyed as a paramedic. So he began hiking and camping, eventually traversing part of the Appalachian Trail. As he got deeper into hiking, he looked for a new challenge and found it on Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa and the highest freestanding peak in the world.
“I had a high school friend who had done it a couple years prior, which sort of sparked my interest,” Foster says.”I started doing research and finally decided to do it.”
Foster’s oldest daughter and her boyfriend joined him on the journey to Tanzania, where Kilimanjaro is located, in September. Their trek up the mountain took seven days, hiking and then camping in segments to allow their bodies to acclimate to the altitude—Kilimanjaro towers 19,341 feet above sea level.
“That was sort of a life lesson, too,” Foster says. “Taking shortcuts and trying to do things too fast often leads to failure.”
Though they took their time, Foster’s daughter experienced altitude sickness that rendered her unable to complete the climb. Her boyfriend accompanied her back down the mountain, and Foster trudged on. By the time they’d reached the peak from base camp, several other hikers from their group also bowed out, leaving Foster with just two others reaching the top.
“[Summiting Kilimanjaro] was easily the hardest physical and mental challenge I’ve ever put myself through, and that includes military basic training that I did as a teenager in a much better physical condition,” he says.
While Foster says he won’t climb any other mountains soon, he believes the active lifestyle he’s kept up since—regular walks, swimming, and other activities—have helped him maintain the conditioning that allowed him to reach the mountaintop. As he prepares for his daughter’s nuptials—her boyfriend proposed on Kilimanjaro that day—he knows that healthy lifestyle will allow him to enjoy more of life’s big moments ahead.
“She’s got a wedding coming up, and I’ll be around hopefully to participate and be physically able to travel if I need to,” he says. “There are so many benefits of staying active and healthy and finding a challenge like a Kilimanjaro or an Appalachian Trail hike that will make you prepare and stay focused on your health and well-being.”
