The purposes of this Association are to:

  • The purposes of this Association are to:
  • A. Promote and protect the interests, rights, and welfare of the retired educators of the Stevens Point area in conjunction with the Wisconsin Retired Educators’ Association (WREA).
  • B. Monitor and work to improve the benefits for retired educators and other members of the Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS).
  • C. Encourage Association members to maintain membership in the Wisconsin Retired Educators’ Association (WREA).
  • D. Develop working relationships with local service organizations whose main emphasis is on aging groups and with organizations sharing goals similar to those of the Association.
  • E. Inform Association members about and advocate for educational and other relevant societal issues.
  • F. Inform members of activities in the area provided for senior citizens.
  • G. Encourage Association members to be active participants in community affairs on an individual basis.

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Yard Signs Available

 From Eileen:

Dennis Raabe stopped by and asked if there was a SPARTA meeting soon. I mentioned he just missed it Monday. He put a sign in my front yard and asked if any retirees would like one. 
 
If you would like a sign for your front yard......... 
 
______________________________
 
                 Vote YES
 
Stevens Point Area Public Schools
 
                     April 2
 
_______________________________
 
Dennis Raabe, 715-341-6407, will bring one to you.

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Feeling Crafty?

 From Lynn Koresh:

With Spring coming on, you might be interested in a workshop to make a "Welcome Spring" hanging.  For $45, you can get laser-cut wooden pieces to put together your own version of the hangings shown here.

If you are interested, contact Lynn Koresh for details

Monday, March 11, 2024

Grant Applications Open

 

STEVENS POINT AREA

RETIRED TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATION

____________________________________________________________________________

 

Dear Community Member,

The Stevens Point Area Retired Teachers’ Association (SPARTA) is proud to announce that applications are now being accepted for our community grant program.

Our goal is to continue to support non-profit groups and organizations that directly benefit area children, seniors and families. Programs with limited resources supporting educational activities or cultural and enrichment events are invited to apply.

Because of tremendous community support for our used book sales, we are able to support your philanthropic work. While we wish our funds were endless, they are not so we respectfully ask that you consciously consider the size of your request knowing that we have a limited amount money to distribute.

Please use the attached application form or access it on our website, www.spartanewsandnotes.com

Applications must be postmarked by May 1, 2024 and be accurately completed to be considered. Our grant committee will review all eligible requests and make their decision by the end of May. Recipients will then be notified.

We thank you for all you do for our community. As educators we know and truly appreciate the work of all who collectively make our society, our towns, and our homes   richer and better places to live.

 

Sincerely,

Jan Langton

SPARTA Treasurer

2010 Aspen Ln.

Plover, WI 54467

715.340.2145

jlangton@charter.net

 

SPARTA is a proud member of the Wisconsin Retired Educators’ Association

 

 

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 STEVENS POINT AREA RETIRED TEACHERS’ ASSOCIATION

2024 GRANT APPLICATION

 

The Stevens Point Area Retired Teachers’ Association (SPARTA) will accept grant applications April 1 - May 1, 2024. Awards will be announced at the end of May.

 

Each organization will be considered for one grant. The application must be accurately completed to be considered (including “Amount Requested”). Only applications postmarked May 1 or earlier are eligible.

Name of nonprofit group or organization______________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

Purpose of group or organization ___________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

Amount Requested $____________       Date submitted to SPARTA _______________

Specify how and when the grant money will be used ____________________________

______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

Contact person name/title _________________________________________________

Address _______________________________________________________________

Phone _________________ Email Address  __________________________________

 

Please forward completed application to:

Jan Langton

SPARTA Treasurer

2010 Aspen Ln

Plover, WI 54467

 

Additional info may be obtained by calling Langton at 715.340.2145 or emailing jlangton@charter.net

You may download this form from the SPARTA website: www.spartanewsandnotes.com


Monday, October 23, 2023

If you think things are bad now, some perspective

Kevin Drum

October 20, 2023

https://jabberwocking.com/


Here is the story of my grandfather (on my mother's side). Yes, it has a point:


My grandfather was born in 1900. He was 14 when World War I broke out and 17 when America entered the fighting. He was 18 when the Spanish flu pandemic swept the world. He was 20 when the Palmer Raids and the associated red scare broke out. He was 25 during the Scopes trial and 29 during the St. Valentine’s Day massacre. He was 32 when the Great Depression got into full swing and the US banking system came within days of collapsing. He was 33 when famine killed millions in Ukraine and 34 when he lost his job as an electrician for Western Union and had to spend the rest of the decade as an elevator operator. He was 39 at the start of World War II—the biggest, most destructive war in human history.


He was 45 when, in the Pacific, the US detonated two atomic bombs over Japan. On the other side of the world the full horror of the Holocaust became public and the Soviet Union swallowed Eastern Europe. He was 47 when the Cold War started. He was 49 when communists took over China and the Soviet Union detonated an atomic bomb. The country would live under the specter of nuclear annihilation forever after that.


He was 50 when McCarthyism took over the country—the second red scare of his lifetime. He was 57 when Sputnik was launched and 59 when famine killed upwards of 50 million people in China. He was 62 during the Cuban Missile Crisis, 63 when a president was assassinated, 64 when Tonkin Gulf ignited the Vietnam War in earnest, and 65 when the Watts Riots broke out a few miles from his home. He was 68 when both a presidential candidate and the country's preeminent civil rights leader were assassinated. He was 74 when Richard Nixon resigned over Watergate. He was 78 when Three Mile Island melted down and 79 when hostages were taken in Iran. He was 80 when gasoline prices doubled and inflation hit 15%. He was 86 when Chernobyl melted down.


A few years later he died.


I promised you a point. Here it is: stop whining. Young adults today have lived through 9/11, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a severe recession, and then Donald Trump. Currently Ukraine and Israel are at war.


Has this been a traumatic era? A time of polycrisis and the decline of democracy? Please. Today's problems are pinpricks compared to the 20th century. The Spanish Flu killed 50 million people globally—nearly 3% of the total population. During the Great Depression unemployment peaked at about 25% and wages fell by nearly half. In 1942 the world was down to nine democracies—and 80 million people had to die before democracy finally won the day. The Holocaust killed two-thirds of the Jews in Europe. The Cold War lasted 45 years and immiserated hundreds of millions of people worldwide.


Sure, we have problems. But even taken altogether they're just not that big. The Great Recession peaked at 10% unemployment and stayed above 5% for seven years—compared to 11% and 27 years between 1970 and 1997. Wages for blue-collar workers went up during the Great Recession compared to a 7% decline during the Volcker Recession and a 40% decline during the Great Depression. The combination of 9/11 and both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars killed about 10,000 Americans over a decade—the toll from a single year of Vietnam or a single month of WWII. COVID was half as deadly as the Spanish Flu in the US and a thirtieth as deadly worldwide. There are ten times as many democracies in the world as there were 80 years ago—and fears to the contrary notwithstanding, they're in pretty good shape. Racism may still be our original sin, but it's plummeted compared to the days of Jim Crow, redlining, literacy tests, and Bull Connor. Our standard of living is triple what it was at the start of the postwar era. Inflation recently rose above 5% for two years, but that compares to nine consecutive years from 1973-82. The murder rate spiked to 6.8 per 100,000 a couple of years ago but is still a third less than it was three decades ago.


Now tell me again about your polycrisis and your trauma. I'm listening.

2023 November Newsletter