CATCHING UP ON RECENT ACTIVITIES: Public Relations Officer Carolyn London reports that Blue Cross/Blue Shield will hold ANNUITANT BRIFING THIS WEEK: In an effort to ensure that federal annuitants as well as active employees receive first-hand information about upcoming changes, Blue Cross Blue Shield will host the annual Annuitant Briefing on the Blue Cross Blue Shield campus in Durham on October 24, 2014. Your NARFE chapter members are encouraged to attend this seminar to receive information in a group setting with other NARFE chapters and members. There is no cost to attend this seminar or for the lunch that will follow. For additional information, or to register for the Annuitant Briefing, please contact Jaynita Shah at Jaynita.shah@bcbsnc.com or by calling 919-765-2644. HEALTH FAIRS SCHEDULED AT THE FOLLOWING FEDERAL FACILITIES: If you are an active federal employee at any of the following facilities, you have an opportunity to visit with Federal Health Benefits Providers and a representative of NARFE in North Carolina representative. November 3rd from 8 am until 4 pm Durham VA Medical Center November 4th from 11 am until 2 pm at NEIHS RTP November 5th from 10 am until 2 pm at EPA RTP November 5th from 8 am until 3 pm at Camp Lejeune November 6th form 8:30 am until 4 pm at Salisbury VA Medical Center November 11th from 7:30 am until 4 pm at FCC Butner Well you missed this Special for Chapter Legislative Officers-We will keep trying: NARFE Legislative Director Jessica Klement will be a guest on the radio program Your Turn with Mike Causey on Wednesday, October 15, at 10 a.m. (ET). The interview will focus on NARFE’s biennial magazine feature How They Voted. Before Election Day in every even-numbered year, NARFE compiles a scorecard of the current Congress, as well as historical scores for all sitting members of Congress. Klement and Causey will discuss how the 113th Congress voted on issues impacting federal employees and retirees over the last two years. The program is available nationwide on www.FederalNewsRadio.com and in the Washington, DC, metro area on WFED 1500AM. NARFE’s Klement: Guest on Federal News Radio Who: NARFE Legislative Director Jessica Klement What: Your Turn with Mike Causey Where: www.federalnewsradio.com and WFED 1500AM When: Wednesday, October 15, 2014, at 10 a.m. (ET) Work begins on the 2015 Federation Annual Convention: The 2015 Convention will be held in Hickory at the Crowne Plaza Hotel next May. More information will follow. The Next Federation Board Meeting: The 2nd Quarter Board Meeting to be held November 11-12, 2014 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, 1385 Lenoir Rhyne Blvd., Hickory, NC. The Crowne Plaza is located off of I-40 at Exit 125. It is between I-40 and Highway 70, which is parallel to and south of I-40. Note to Federation Officers: Written quarterly Board Officer reports of activities since the last board meeting (limited to about one page please) should be uploaded to the Federation website or emailed to me by Tuesday, October 28. Your report file should be named "2nd Quarter Area II VP Report", "2nd Quarter Membership Coordinator Report", etc., substituting the name of your position. If possible please save your file in PDF format as these can be opened for reading without being downloaded to the reader's computer. Area IV Training Session has been scheduled: Area Vice President Richard Pulsifer announce plans for the first of the Annual Area Training Session. It will be held January 14th at the NC State University Faculty Club on Hillsborough Street. Bridget Boles, National Membership Director will provide insights into National NARFE’s membership activities. More information will be provided as the program develops. The Membership Standing Committee is working on an updated Membership Plan for 2015. The Committee wishes to thank all the Chapter Officers who participated in the evaluation meetings during the past few months. Valuable information and insights was gained from these meetings with Chapter Officers. Changes Coming to Your Website: One of the objectives of the Current Membership Plan was to provide better and easier communications tools for Chapter Officers involved in membership activities. Training sessions with Area V Chapter Officers should be completed in a few weeks then other Area Chapter Officers will be invited to attend online training sessions on the new tools. We would like to have each chapter to have outreach tools like newspaper and website. The Federation will assist Chapter with the tools to succeed. Officers can test the some of the new tools on the Federation website. What’s a Dashboard? Give it a test drive. DID YOU MISS THE LAST DAY OF THE MEMBERSHIP WEBINAR? The Webinar is available on the National NARFE website www.narfe.org Click on the Officer Resources box (image on left) then scroll down the left column until you locate the SERVICES box and click on the In-House Presentations link to display the various programs available from National. The Federation Presidents Membership Webinar Third Quarter is located next to last. 4TH BRANCH AND FEDERAL TASK FORCE NEWS: Ben Saunders, Federation NARFE PAC Chair submitted the following update: Attached is the end of session for the 4th branch. The report was prepared by Ken Melton, our professional Lobbyist. The legislative committee of the 4th branch has scheduled a meeting for Sept. 16 at the SEANC headquarters building in Raleigh. Also the next Quarterly meeting of the Federal Task Force is scheduled for Sept. 20 in Winston Salem. There are several people from NARFE included in this meeting. Bob Bartlett, Coastal-Jacksonville Chapter 1312, is secretary for this group and I will forward his report once it is released. Stories we are working include: National Officer of the Year: Clarence W. Burrell was named “National Officer of the Year” at the 2014 National Convention. We are working on the story. Congratulations Clarence. At right is a photo taken at the 2014 Federation Convention at Rocky Mount where Clarence received the North Carolina Service Officer of the Year. (Thanks to Coy Rahman, Rockingham County Chapter 1161 for the photo.)