We hope you and your family had a safe and healthy 4^th of July holiday. Things are slowly returning to normalcy and I know all of us hope that the trend continues. We are finally able to start planning vacations and trips that we have put off for over a year. Again, a reminder, it is never too early to start planning for next year’s reunion and to save the date on your calendar. The reunion will return to the Marriott Lake Mary, April 21^st thru April 25^th.

Please keep in mind that this is the start of hurricane season and we should all make sure to be prepared well in advance of any storm that comes our way. Stay safe!

           John Fraley, Vice President/Scholarship Chairman - We sent out the scholarship awards to the five recipients last month. Each recipient received a one-thousand-dollar check to help with their education and expenses. The RPOC board through the Otis Chambers Scholarship Fund are proud to help the children and grandchildren of our members in continuing their education. [Please see below pictures of this years scholarship winners]

I am extremely proud of the program and our board. I am also proud of our members who have answered the call and supported the Otis Chambers Scholarship Fund. Special thanks to Kay Chambers who came to our board to initiate the program. 

Please continue your help with your donations in January 2022 with your renewals. We will open the fund for the fall semester of 2022. We will start the application process on January 15^th 2022 and will close May 1^st 2022.

           Ed Spisak, Treasurer – Preface to Treasurer’s statement – Below was written before the current surge of Covid cases and hospitalizations in Florida, which has recently become one of, if not the highest State of new cases. Spouse and I received our vaccinations in March and feel more comfortable about prevention or lessening of the virus. If you’ve not received your vaccinations, please consider it for your safety and the safety of others.

Gratefully, we are steadily moving back to normal after the very stressful year and more we’ve all been through. It’s clear from the many communications we’ve received, that everyone is ready to get together and enjoy our next reunion which is scheduled for April, 2022. We are all looking forward to it! Our membership dues and generous donations have been doing well. We have been receiving new Members both by your referrals, our transmittal of Applications to retired LEOs who have expressed interest in joining and through the RPOC website. The process is made easy at our website: www.rpocpba.org and we urge you to please continue to spread the news to your retired friends who may not yet be members, about joining.

           Reba Miller, Chaplain - Passing of our Warriors... With Honor, Respect and Remembrance "May the Lord bless you and draw you close to him"..... 

           1. Eugene E. "Gene" Moore, May 2021

           2. Zackery Gentile, June 2021

           3. Roy Sommerhoff, May 2021

           4. Rollie T. Biggs May 2021

We extend our condolences, love and support to retirees Cookie Coleman and Dick Ward at the passing of their beloved spouses, Harry Coleman and Carol Ward. Please know that we are sending encouraging and uplifting support to retiree Harry Wright, during his time of rehabbing.

" Look for something positive in each day, even if some days you have to look harder. A positive mind will give you a happier life” ...anonymous 

           Jerry Rudoff, Sgt. At Arms/Information Officer -Due to the overabundance of questions and issues regarding health insurance related topics that have been raised in the Retired Police Officers Council (RPOC) Facebook group as well as other related law enforcement groups, specifically those who are approaching the age 65 and have many Medicare related questions, we have enlisted the assistance of an expert in this field to answer many of our members questions. As our RPOC Facebook page is private and is considered a benefit to our members, we have invited participants of other groups to join the RPOC via our website at www.rocpba.org so that they too can take advantage of this most valuable resource. The following is the announcement that has been placed on our Facebook page:

Hello all,

As promised, we wish to introduce our new FB group member Stephanie N Ranfys. Stephanie is the wife of retired MDPD Sgt. Butka who I'm sure many of you know and her son is currently a police officer with MDPD as well. So, she is family. She is also a Field Benefits Consultant with Av Med and has expertise in dealing with Medicare matters as relates to retirees and those approaching Medicare age. Stephanie has agreed to come here on a voluntary basis and try to answer some of your many related questions and to also address some of your Av Med related concerns. All we ask is that you be patient and respectful as she makes her way through this maze of related questions and issues. As we progress in this exercise, we'll even have the opportunity to eventually create some private FB rooms via our group so Stephanie can talk about some specific health insurance related products that might be beneficial for us all. If you'd care to address a question to Stephanie please make sure you TAG her name, Stephanie N Ranfys as I've done here so she won't have to sift through a bunch of unrelated topics to get to your question. If you have any questions for us, RPOC, feel free to note them here or message us. Thank you all again for your respectful patience in this process and your time. Now please give a family welcome to Stephanie N Ranfys. We have noticed that many of our participants on Facebook have sent welcome posts to Stephanie. The next step now is for you all to state some of the questions you might have or need to know in preparation for receiving Medicare. If you have a personal situation/issue and do not wish to discuss it in a public forum, feel free to PM Stephanie and make arrangements for a private consult.

####

We would like to welcome New Members: Cheryl Mercure, MDPD; Paul Terry, MDPD; Curtis Johnson, Bay Harbor Island PD; Norberto Gonzalez, MDPD; Heather Grimes, MDPD – Reinstated: Ramon Delvalle, Ben Hall, Douglas McCoy, Hernan Organvidez, Timm Ross.

                                               

STAY HEALTHY ---- STAY CALM -- STAY INCHARGE