QACRSPA Meeting Minutes-March 11, 2026

11:30am Time to visit with a strong chatter volume

Richard welcomed everyone including our special guests, Debbie Chance - Area 3 representative and Louann Rhodes from Tides of Grace.
Richard reminded everyone that next year is an election year and he will not be continuing as president.
He thanked Helen for the decorations and favors and Debbie Dean for the delicious lunch.
Blessing was asked and the food was enjoyed by all.

12:39pm Meeting was called to order
Pledge to flag

Sandy introduced Louann Rhodes, founder of the nonprofit Tides of Grace, located in Centreville. She told a riveting story of her past that led to the establishment of Tides of Grace. Each guest received a laminated card with the plans for 2026 and ways to help. Louann was surprised and very appreciative of the paper plates, toilet paper and paper towels that were donated by our members today for Tides of Grace.

Debbie Chance, Area 3 MRSPA Representative, shared information about the upcoming State Annual Business Meeting on May 10th. There are proposed Bylaw amendments that will be voted on and a new strategic plan will be presented. She came to QA Co. earlier this year to present a mini-grant to a 5th grade science teacher at Bayside Elementary. There will be five scholarships and a community service award presented at the annual business meeting.

Each executive committee member gave their annual report.
Susan Boone- Necrology
Since the October meeting we lost and remember-
Virgil Klepper
Maria Covey
Margie Cleveland Abrams
Jerry Garey
Special mention- Kathy Draper’s husband, Tom Draper

Sue Miller- Treasurer
Sue shared an itemized listing of income and expenses for 2025.
Income from dues, luncheons and scholarship donations totaled $6,706.00
Expenses for postage, gala donation, insurance, recruitment
Incentive, luncheons and scholarship awards totaled $8,828.08
As of March 2026 $9,963.52 in Shore United Bank
$4,755.22 QACRSPA
$5,208.30 Scholarship
Marge Felty- Secretary
Minutes are shared with all members after the four regular meetings held in March, June, October and December. A few weeks before each of these meetings, the executive team meets to discuss information relevant to the upcoming general meetings. Minutes of these meetings are only sent to executive team members but are available to anyone, if requested.

Sandy Hartmann-Community Outreach
2-3 cases of water were collected and given to each school nurse after the October meeting.
The Happy Hour at Uno Mas was enjoyed by those who attended. Sandy is planning another Happy Hour for the fall.
At the December luncheon, pencils and candy canes were put in 250 little bags for students.
The second coffee and doughnut event, presented by the Sheriff, was very informative about senior scams. Sandy is looking for more speakers who present on topics relevant to us.
She said Louann was 'blown away' by the quantity of paper goods donated today.

Mary Holden-Membership
Mary works at both the State and local levels on membership. In December she went to a Meet and Greet at the state level with new members to find out why they chose to join. The #1 reason was to keep up with what's happening. She encouraged everyone to keep their address and email addresses up to date. Plastic membership cards will be issued soon. Former members will be receiving emails between March 1-31 in an attempt to reinstate them.

Steve Strobeck- Legislative
Steve also works at the State level as well as being our local representative. Twenty-five people meet every two weeks by Zoom from Jan-Apr when the state legislature is in session. The legislative updates are available to everyone on the website. He expects this to be a slow year because it is an election year and a budget year. He pointed out there was emergency legislation to correct the COLA, for the time of the government shut down, by using an average of the months before and after the shutdown. Our pension is in very good shape with a return of 9.8%. MRSPA opposes the budget bill that transfers pension costs to individual counties. MRSPA also opposes the Post Office bill that wants to delay postmarking. There is concern that it could affect mail in ballots along with other items.

Helen Benchoff- Luncheon Coordinator - Heartily thanked for all the behind the scene work.

Madeline Hubbard-Newsletter, Webmaster
The newsletter goes out three weeks before the meeting to allow time to get checks in for the luncheons. We still have 25 members with no email address who receive the newsletter by snail mail at an expense to the group. Madeline asked that everyone share highlights/milestones to keep the newsletter interesting. She posts minutes and pictures from the meetings on our website. It is linked to the Facebook page. Meetings are now available on Zoom with an invitation going out a few days beforehand. The meetings are also recorded.

Bobbie Leaverton- Scholarship
Last March there was no scholarship drive because there was over $9,000 in the scholarship fund. The two successful candidates received their scholarships. After a lengthy discussion at the February Executive Committee all of the ideas proposed at the general meeting were considered. The Executive Committee was asked to make the final decision. Bobbie explained the process in the letter accompanying this year’s scholarship drive which is ongoing now.

Richard McNeal- President
Richard thanked Jackie Wilhelm, in her absence, for running Family Feud games on Facebook. He's not sure where she gets her questions but knows many people enjoy the challenge.
The current Interim Superintendent is being offered a 4 year contract on July 1st. Richard shared his interactions with Dr. Matthew Kibler have been positive.
There will be a survey in June to find out how we are meeting the needs of our members. We want to provide a service and be effective.
The file cabinet that contains our history since 1950 was kept on the stage in the old Board Office. Since the office has moved no one seems to know where it is. Richard is trying to track it down.
Board meetings have been interesting. Our pensions are secure but money may have to come out of the local budgets to support future pensions. This is a concern since it could impact our health insurance.
If you know someone who is retiring, let us know so we can reach out to them.

Martha Davidson shared information about the National Vietnam Day Celebration being held on March 28 from 2-4pm at QACHS. She also talked about a statue being erected in Centreville to commemorate the US Colored Troops in the Civil War for John Wright. John is part of a veterans’ group at the American Legion in Centreville that meets on Mondays but was unable to attend our meeting for health reasons.

1:57pm Sandy moved to adjourn, 2nd by Sharon Darling, Meeting adjourned.

Marge Felty, Secretary