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2008 Convention Special
National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association
Florida Federation of Chapters
Leaping into the Future
The Florida Federation held its Fifty Sixth
Annual Convention from May 21-22 at the
Hilton Hotel in Altamonte
Springs. The Convention,
whose motto was Leaping
into the Future, was
organized and expertly
managed by Convention
Chair John Ventura
(picture at the left) and
Federation President Don
Stewart (pictured at the
right).
Scores of NARFE members from around the state
helped the effort, which included fund raising
raffles, a hobby show, two excellent banquet
dinners, and information tables manned by
several Federation appointees.
Elections
The most important part of the convention was
the elections for Federation Offices and District
Vice Presidents.
Elected to statewide office were: President
Donald Stewart, 1st VP Wallace Roepke, new
2nd VP Ken Carter, Secretary William
Leatham, and new Treasurer Ruth Blackwell.
A complete list of all newly elected and appointed
officials is provided on the last page of this
Newsletter.
Speakers
In his opening remarks, Federation President
Don Stewart told attendees “NARFE is entering
a new phase with a new generation of members
who need our help to
prepare to assume NARFE
leadership. They will be
entering a NARFE that has
not faced a serious crisis
impacting our benefits in
many years, which
conveys a false sense of
security, a sense of
security established by the
excellent job done by our
National Office.
The fact that NARFE has not been able to get any
legislation passed we favor is misunderstood by
many. It is a slow, drawn-out process that is not
easy to understand. Add to this the fiscal
straights our nation is in makes the task even
more difficult.
But our crisis may be upon us shortly, in the form
of Health Savings Accounts.
We need to adapt to changing times. Our new
FERS members have different issues to face than
CSRS retirees and we need to understand and
support those issues while never turning our back
on our CSRS members.”
He repeated his alert to us all that we in NARFE
spend too much time trying to fine tune our
bureaucracy. “We need to broaden our vision to
encompass issues we share with the senior
community such as property taxes, home
insurance premiums, and tax portability.” He
believes the new retiree is more of a community
activist and “we should provide them with a
platform and make our Association relevant to
them.”
He ended by urging members to attend this
year’s National Convention in Louisville, KY in
September.
