Third Thursday Each Month
11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Olivia’s in the Village
6597 Main Street
Gloucester, VA
(Meetings and locations are generally announced in the Gloucester-Mathews Gazette-Journal)
CHAPTER 1757 OFFICERSPRESIDENT
James Bradbury /
VICE PRESIDENT
Don Mitchell /
SECRETARY
Lucy Mirabella /
TREASURER
Hank Furniss /
SERVICE OFFICER
Paul Componation /
MEMBERSHIP
Bob Howe /
CHAPTER E-MAIL
ADDRESS /
Happy Spring to All! I hope that the gentle winter we’ve had doesn’t mean a really hot summer.
By now all of you probably know that against my former stance, I accepted another year as your Chapter President. This decision was made a lot easier due to almost all of our officers stepping up to carry out some of the duties that have fallen on me during the past 2 years. I guess it comes down to all I had to do was ask, or delegate. Either way, I feel much more comfortable now in my role.
Your Chapter VP, Don Mitchell has assumed the role of acquiring guest speakers for each meeting. He has done a great job as pointed out by our newsletter Co-editor, Gloria Wajciechowski. She is another member that I must salute for stepping up and helping with our publicity and Newsletter development.
Our Secretary, Lucy Mirabella and member Judy Mitchell have agreed to chair our special events such as our fall picnic and our Christmas party. What a relief for my wife and I, THANKS!
Bob Howe, our Membership Chair has become much more helpful in identifying new members and taking the lead in contacting them. He has also been most helpful in tracking information about deceased members.
My heart-felt thanks to ALL our officers for their support and genuine interest in our chapter.
As you receive this newsletter we will be moving towardssummer. Hopefully you can attend one of our meetings before our summer break which occurs during June, July, and August. We would love to have you join us on the third Thursday at 11:30 a.m. at Olivia’s in the Village in the Gloucester Courthouse area.
We will resume our meetings in September when we will have our annual picnic. Time and date will be announced later.
I cannot stress too strongly the benefit of having your e-mail address so we can keep you posted on upcoming events and actions in a more timely manner.
In closing, I welcome any new members to come and be a part of your Local NARFE Chapter 1757. Remember, your membership in our chapter counts in all that NARFE tries to accomplish on the behalf of active and retired federal employees.
I would also like to express my condolences to any member who has lost a loved one.
Jim Bradbury, President
If you’re a retiree, you can authorizeOPM to deduct 1/12 of your annualdues each month from your pension.
Since NARFE saves on billing costs,your combined national and chapterdues are only $44 instead of $50, making your monthly deduction only $3.67. You can stop the automaticdeduction at any time.
To sign up, fill out a simple applicationwith your chapter number, CS number, and SSN. The application is available at anychapter meeting or at on the Web at
Please help us to help you when wehave important information to communicateto you quickly. You can help usto help you by carrying out the followingsteps:
- Go to
- Log in as a member with your lastname and NARFE member number,
- Click on ‘Update Your Record’,
- Enter your NARFE Member # anddate of birth,
- Click ‘Enter’,
- Enter your Email Address,
- Choose the type ofemail you want to receive, such asthrough NARFE’s Global Electronic Messaging System (GEMS), etc.,
- Click ‘Submit’.
Phishing is a scam carried out by unsolicited email and/or websites that pose as legitimate sites and lure unsuspecting victims to provide personal and financial information.
Recently phishing emails have been circulating to individuals advising them that they are due an IRS refund and advising recipients that they must furnish their social security numbers and bank account numbers so they can receive their tax refunds.
Please be aware that IRS does not communicate with taxpayers via email messages seeking personal information.
If you have received an unsolicited email message claiming to be from the IRS, you should report it by forwarding the email message to
Listed below are some of the guest speakers who have recently addressed attendees at our Chapter Monthly Meetings.
In December we celebrated the Holidays with a Holiday Party at Olivia’s in the Village. The door prize was a beautiful gift basket full of delicious items. Bob Howe was the winner of the basket and chose to give it back to be auctioned off for the benefit of Alzheimer’s. The winning bid brought $35 to the Alzheimer’s program.
In January Linda Fletcher from Blue Cross/Blue Shield was our guest speaker and she briefed attendees on updates and changes to medical insurance policies for 2012.
In February our guest speaker was Carter Borden, Chairman of the Gloucester Board of Supervisors. He briefed members on topics important to residents of GloucesterCounty, such as the budget, reassessments, and general county funding.
In March Gloucester County Sheriff Darrell W. Warren, Jr. was our guest speaker. He spoke to members about duties of the Gloucester County Sheriff’s Office, including drug sweeps at county schools and the response by the Sheriff’s Office to bullying in local schools. He advised members that he plans to conduct at least two town hall type meetings to receive input from county residents and also to answer any questions or concerns citizens may have about the Sherriff’s Department.
In May our guest speaker will be one of our newest members, Kitty Price. Kitty will be attending the Virginia Federation of Chapters (VFC) Convention being held in Richmond, VA April 22-25. She will brief attendees at the May 17th meeting of information she received at that convention.
Attending the May meeting will ensure that you are getting the latest news from the NARFE VFC Convention. Come join us at Olivia’s in the Village at 11:30 a.m. on May 17th. Remember that this will be our last meeting before we break for summer. We look forward to seeing you there.
On March 15, Sen. Rand Paul introduced legislation (S. 2196), entitled “Congressional Health Care for Seniors Act of 2012.” Sen. Paul and his three cosponsors would use the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) as a “model” to replace Medicare.
NARFE President Joseph A. Beaudoin responded immediately. “This is a kill-two-birds-with-one-stone kind of proposal that would both bring down Medicare as we know it and threaten the stability of the FEHBP. For more than five decades, the FEHBP has provided a stable, though not overly generous, health insurance benefit to federal civilian employees, retirees and their dependents. To throw open the doors of the plan to absorb the flood of seniors currently enrolled in Medicare poses certain risks and must be examined closely."
“On March 13, 2012 the Senate targeted federal employees for a third consecutive year of a pay freeze. However, on that day, NARFE had our own Super Tuesday when NARFE and our coalition partners helped defeat an amendment to the Surface Transportation Bill. This major victory, described below, should be celebrated as a classic combination of constituent pressure (NARFE members sending out current Action Alert) and coordinated coalition efforts including NARFE legislative staff. Only this combination of inside and outside action can defeat the scapegoating of federal employees, the precursor of a similar fate for federal retirees.”
In a NARFE press release NARFE President Joseph A. Beaudoin issued the following statement:
“Although we are relieved that this latest affront to America’s federal workers failed, we’re still on guard for the next attempt to weaken our federal workforce and the vital services and protections it provides.
“Had the Roberts amendment passed, it would have drained another $26 billion from federal worker paychecks. Under the current two-year pay freeze, federal workers are already contributing $60 billion in budget savings and the recent payroll-tax holiday extension will cost federal workers another $15 billion. Meanwhile, no other group or program in America has yet to pay a dime in ‘shared sacrifice’ to fix our budget woes.”
Does the NARFE Local Chapter 1757 have your email address? If not information that needs to be transmitted to you may be much slower in arriving due to the frequency of printed newsletters.
Because of the cost of postage and printing of Chapter 1757 newsletters, the newsletter only goes out when there is enough information to warrant issuing a printed newsletter. It is much faster AND CHEAPER to correspond with members via email messages.
When breaking news is happening or urgent information needs to get out to local Chapter 1757 members, if we have your up-to-date email address, we can get that information out to you immediately.
Please rest assured that when you notify Chapter 1757 of your email address, it will only be used to transmit information from the local chapter to you. We do not sell your email addresses nor do we share it with others.
Please send your email address to President Jim Bradbury, so that you may begin receiving more timely information from your local chapter. Jim’s email address is:
“I cannot stress too strongly, how important it is to be able to get information out to our local chapter members in a timely manner,” said local chapter President Jim Bradbury.