More than 60 members of the District I Alabama Education Retirees Association met Aug. 10 at the Russellville First United Methodist Church. Registration included distribution of the PEEHIP Membership Handbook, AERA membership forms and refreshments.

The meeting was called to order by Melba Wiegand, District I director. The invocation was presented by Dr. Carroll Hughes of Marion County, and the Pledge of Allegiance was led by Kathy Archer of Morgan County.

John Paul Jones, AERA president, presented comments on the Alabama Education Retirees Association.

AERA serves more than 22,500 members. The association is made up of 76 local units, including five active higher education units. These units are divided into 10 districts, and there is at least one local unit in each Alabama county.

The AERA Statewide Community Service Project this year is to raise money to help food insecure senior citizens in Alabama. One dollar will buy six cans of soup and vegetables – enough to feed one hungry senior citizen for 1.5 days. Each local unit is asked to donate $1 per state member in their respective counties. The monetary donations collected will be sent to one of the eight Alabama Food Banks in their counties by Nov. 1.

Jill Jackson, executive director of the AERA Office, gave a detailed report on AERA activities. She presented information on the AERA Membership Blitz Goal, which is to recruit 250 new members by Aug. 31. Local units and individuals can earn money by reaching their respective membership goals.

An update on the Education Retirees’ Trust Fund was presented. It was reported that this will again be an issue for next year’s legislative session.

PEEHIP enrollment statistics reported 76,476 members and a total of 310,465 members/dependents covered. Members were encouraged to enroll or make needed changes by the Open Enrollment deadlines of Aug. 31 for paper forms or Sept. 10 for online for the Oct. 1 effective date.

The meeting closed with the drawing of three gift certificates to Amazon as door prizes, which were provided by a CIGNA representative.