UC Santa Cruz Retirement Association Report
October 2022 Report
Submitted by Frank Trueba, UC Santa Cruz CUCRA Representative
The UCSC Retirees Association (RA) Board meets bimonthly and in conjunction with the Retiree and Emeriti Center focuses on providing social and educational programs for all UCSC retirees as well as fund-raising for scholarships on behalf of veteran & staff pursuing a degree at UCSC. The RA Board publishes a quarterly newsletter, The Silver Slug Newsletter and maintains a website (https://retirees.ucsc.edu/). While we represent all retirees, our "official" membership currently stands at 287.
After over two years COVID "lock-down" we started having in-person events--and we're all very happy about it. We do continue to communicate with our members through on-line newsletters and direct e-mails.
Scholarships:
The Retirees Association continues to sponsor and fundraise for two scholarships, the Bruce Lane Memorial Scholarship for UCSC students who are Military Veterans and the "Silver Slug Award" for current and retired staff and their dependents studying at UCSC who need financial assistance.
Programs/Events:
- Scholarship "Luncheon" (May, 2022) where 12 Bruce Lane Memorial Scholarships for veterans and 3 Silver Slug Awards for employees/dependents who are pursuing a degree at UCSC were presented.
- Younger Lagoon Nature Walk/Talk (May 2022) led by the Nature Reserve's Director. Over 100 bird species (resident and migratory) as well as bobcats, coyotes, opossums, weasels, brush rabbits, harvest mice, California red legged frogs, tidewater gobys, and three different spine sticklebacks can be found in the Reserve.
- RASC Presentation (May, 2022) by Michelle Estes, via Zoom, the RASC Manager of Client Relations covered a variety of topics including an update on retirement processing and improvements on services for survivors.
- "Welcome to Retirement" event* (June, 2022) via Zoom where new retires were celebrated and welcomed--including remarks by the Chancellor. We continue to offer a free initial year membership to new retirees who attend the celebration.
- UCSC Farm & Garden Tour (July, 2022), a partial tour of the 30-acre farm, with a discussion led by researchers who spoke on various organic gardening methods including dry farming tomatoes, pest management and sustainable food systems.
- Introduction to Pickle Ball class (Aug, 2022) our pandemic postponed class for those interested in learning how to play pickleball was led by the Santa Cruz Pickleball Club.
- Brewery Tour & Tasting (Sept, 2022) our pandemic interrupted brewery tour series of Santa Cruz County microbreweries resumed with great beer and great cheer.
- Fall Picnic (September, 2022) our annual kick-off event returned with much anticipation but instead of a pot-luck there were catered lunches.
Other Notables:
Our last (October) Association Board meetings was an in-person luncheon--the first in-person gathering in over two years.
*Signifies events Co-Sponsored with the Retiree & Emeriti Center (REC)