PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

 This article is being written for me as I have had a rough few months.  In April, I was on my way to a routine blood draw at my local hospital when I felt pain in my chest. How lucky was that? I had a heart attack in the parking lot of a hospital. I stayed in the ER for a few days because of no beds and then was transferred to a bed in time to do surgery to place stents. My doctor told me that one of those stents was a real lifesaver. However, because of that, they had to move my cancer surgery to July. If it ain’t one thing, it’s another. Thank you to everyone for reaching out to me with phone calls, cards, flowers, and  well-wishes on Facebook and Gmail. As many of you know, when you go through something like this you feel utterly alone, and you all have made me feel not quite so alone and very loved. I appreciate you.

· The BRPBA Board met in April in my absence and voted on two issues very dear to my heart. First, we helped a widow in PA who was in serious financial trouble. She was behind in her rent and her gas and electric due to trouble with Baltimore City getting the pension straightened out. Now we have learned that the landlord for her apartment has decided to tell everyone to move out while he does a major upgrade to the property. With the help of our dear friend, Chaplain Don Helms, we can, hopefully, find her a new place to live. As it was, she was still going to have a hard time of it because the pension was very small, and her son, who came to her house to help her with something, fell and injured his head. He is now disabled. She has a lot on her shoulders.

The second issue the Board voted on was to help our member, Kenny Driscoll. As you know, Kenny runs the Baltimore Police Historical website and pays for it himself with occasional donations. The Board voted to pay his website cost for the remainder of this year. I am so proud of them for agreeing to help Kenny. He has enough to deal with without having to worry about putting out money for the website. 

· As we have spoken about in the past, and it has fallen on deaf ears for some of you, we are still trying to get some members to fill out a beneficiary form. Again, we had an issue just this month with a member who did not complete the form and his grieving widow could have used that $1500.00 for his final expenses. Why?? Why does this have to happen? Why can’t you just fill out the form? It’s so easy.  The rest of the list (from SL to Z) is printed in this issue, along with a form you can cut out. For heavens sake, cut the darn thing out and mail it in. It only costs a stamp. OR you can email it in to BRPBAoffice@gmail.com. Please!!

· So, along the same lines as the paragraph above, the Board has been meeting to discuss something, and we even brought it up before the general meeting in April. We are contemplating creating an Estate Planner for our members. This planner would have a list of things you should fill out to ease your family members minds after your passing, plus it will have a list of the people they should call in the event of your death. Does this sound like something you would be interested in?

· For the time being (until I’m back on my feet), if you would like to purchase a BRPBA tag for your vehicle, please contact Kathy Conrad at kirwin3367@aol.com. Phone: 410-303-0184.  Additionally, if you are having any issues that you need help with/advice on (including Distress Fund needs), please contact our 1st VP, Mike Wilhelm at dashthirty@gmail.com.

· We will be inviting Delegate Andrew Johnson to our June meeting. Delegate Johnson is the representative for Harford County District 34A. He provided support during the recent legislative session regarding SB585 passed. He will discuss this.  And don’t forget, our June meeting is the twice yearly celebration of our members with pit beef and shrimp. 

Take care everyone. 

Daryl