Lawrence Livermore Retiree Association
October 2020 Report
Submitted by Jeff Garberson, CUCRA Representative, Lawerence Livermore Retirees Association
With slightly more than 300 members, LLRA has been concerned about a decline in membership of several percent per year and has taken steps to attempt to reverse the trend. These steps were not particularly successful before the pandemic. But since we are no longer able to meet face to face, membership is now growing as retirees seek information and connections that used to be more readily available when they could congregate and socialize freely.
The main activity of Livermore Laboratory Retirees Association used to be monthly luncheon meetings with invited speakers, and we hope to get back to those in time. They were typically attended by 50-70 members. We also had an annual picnic during the summer which was similarly attended.
After we could no longer get together for luncheons, we initiated a short, emailed newsletter to the membership which has been very well received. The newsletter has covered issues like payments and other benefits from the settlement of the health care lawsuit with UC; poor communications from one of our health care administrators; and miscellaneous news about retirees, about people who have spoken to one of our past luncheons and about the Laboratory and its programs. We know from emailed comments that the newsletter is passed on to other retirees including non-members who make use of information content.
Without luncheons, our overhead is now principally website expenses, so we decided to wave membership fees for 2020. We believe free membership has been a factor in encouraging growth of the RA..
Our RA offers no material benefits like email accounts or campus privileges. We have no retirement center and no volunteer programs.