GREA Conference May 9 - 11, 2017 Stone mountain, GA

Who Attended? Incoming President Vivian Bankston and President-Elect Susan Bates joined 500+ members from local units across the state at the lovely Evergreen Conference Center at Stone Mountain for the 59th annual GREA convention.

What Awards Did NFREA Win? We achieved the Unit of Excellence award! See the display of all the individual awards we received.

What Awards Did We Miss? 1. Spotlight Ads: Sell10 Ads @ $50 each. Ads are placed on GREA web site and offset the cost of the convention. 2. 10% Increase in GREA Membership. Meeting these two goals would earn the Unit of Distinction Award.

What Are Examples of the Spotlight Ads? Comfort Care Hospice “Comfort is what we do best!” Angie Potts, Owner 88 Heritage St. • Baxley 912-367-4146 www.comfortcarehomehospice.com In Memory of Ms. Mattie Presley Of Ben Hill County School System by Robert and Theresa Butts In Honor of Dr. Connie S. Cooper President of CREA, 2016-2017

Why be concerned about the awards we receive? Achieving Awards Fulfills an Altruistic Purpose We have served others with our money and/or time. We show our support of those who take care of our retirement funds.

What’s new with TRS? Dr. L.C. (Buster) Evans is the new Executive Director of TRS. He is a retired teacher, coach, Superintendent, and TRS Board member. He has been a member of TRS most of his life and is currently a TRS retiree. For the first time, this year TRS funds have reached $70B.

Outgoing President Jesse Hunter Celebrated Membership Growth 1,000 new members joined GREA. Total membership is now 27,500. Successful Humanitarian Project GREA local units donated $48,883.00 to support the Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy. NFREA donated $1,200!

Outgoing President Jesse Hunter Celebrated Volunteer Activities 355,862 volunteer hours were reported by local units across the state. Engaged local units Over 1,000 individual certificates issued, reflecting the activities of local units.

New GREA President Myrtice Champion Johnson

President Myrtice Johnson’s Goals for 2017-2018 Increase GREA membership by 5% (1,550). 2. Encourage Area Directors to lead 50% of local units to be Units of Distinction and 90% of local units to be Units of Excellence. 3. Develop system to get 50% of members to receive their Bulletins by email. (Savings of $35,000 for GREA.) 4. Each local unit sell 5 bricks ($100 each) for the museum.

President Johnson’s Goals, continued 5. Seventy-five percent of local units raise $350.00 to support the Shriners Hospitals for Children.

President Johnson’s Humanitarian Project Mission: To provide the highest quality of care to children with neuro-musculoskeletal conditions, burn injuries, and other healthcare needs… To provide for the education of physicians and other healthcare professionals To conduct research to provide new knowledge that improves the quality of care and the quality of life of children and families.