Hardly slowing down—the growth of the Retirees’ Association

Retired, and Extremely Dedicated!

The R.E.D. Team is on a roll! The BCIT Retiree’s Association—Retired, and Extremely Dedicated—is moving ahead with renewed energy and focus.

The current board has stepped up activity on several fronts. Membership is growing rapidly with a 25+% leap in just a few months. Various activities keep members engaged with BCIT, and the growth of our bursary endowment fund ensures we continue to have an impact on the lives of students.

Electronic communication is a way of life for all of us, and the BCITRA has updated our internal procedures with all membership info now in digital form, ongoing improvements to our website (www.bcitra.ca), regular e-Blasts to keep members up-to-date via emails, frequent newsletters, and easy online membership applications. More and more of our information is available online, and a captivating new brochure represents us very well in the print world. Our current active membership fee remains at a low $10 per year.

We’ve renewed our relationship with Human Resources, leading to improved connections with new retirees and potential new members. Every new retiree now receives our brochure and membership information with the package given to them when they leave. Privacy concerns prevent us from connecting directly with retirees who left the Institute earlier, so we’re developing a focused ‘word of mouth’ campaign to reach out to those folks via former colleagues who are members of our association. The object of the exercise is growth for our membership and improved engagement with everyone who made the Institute what it is today.

Our office is in the SE40 building, long known as the Royal Oak Campus, where various meeting rooms and other offices are located.

We maintain active involvement with COSCOBC, the Council of Senior Citizens’ Organizations of British Columbia, and share in all the advantages of belonging to that much larger organization.

So with all this, what does the Retirees Association actually DO? Members engage in many activities beyond our board meetings and AGM. Various workshops, some involving COSCO, are available to members, including topics as diverse as emergency preparedness, financial planning, technical information for our digital age, health issues, challenges with elderly parents, travel info, and pension information. Regular outings like Ale Trail crawls and wine tastings, luncheons, and whale watching in Ucluelet, attract enthusiastic groups. And the board is planning to expand our activities significantly.

Our Bursary endowment funds are now north of $57,000, and we have some ambitious plans for growing that sum. And a part of our annual membership goes toward that fund every year.

And with all that said, a prime objective of our Association remains to keep our members engaged and enthusiastic about BCIT and its objectives as one of British Columbia’s leading educational institutions. We worked together for many years, enjoying the support and camaraderie of our colleagues, and the RED Team is working hard to maintain those important friendships and connections over the long term!

Stand by for more news on a regular basis from our very active R.E.D. Team.