The Board members of PSARA and the PSARA Education Fund have issued a challenge to our membership for the 2025GiveBIG campaign. This is our most important and biggest fundraiser of the year. Our 2025 goal is $35,000.

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Our Board members have generously pledged $27,700 so we are asking our membership to donate $8,000 to reach ourgoal. If our members can donate more, we will be most grateful.

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Together, we can expand and finance our progressive work that is needed now as never before. Your donations support our educational and advocacy work on halting and pushing back the privatization of Medicare and SocialSecurity and devastating cuts to Medicaid. As a result of our work in 2024, PSARA expanded the geographic reach of oureducational and advocacy work, bringing in new members locally and nationally.

PSARA is very active in the legislative process. This year we are the lead organization for legislation in the 2025 WashingtonState Legislature. Working with the support of Senator Bob Hasagawa, PSARA helped draft and is advocating for SenateJoint Memo- rial (SJM) 8002, which calls for leveling the playing field between Traditional Medicare and MedicareAdvantage to give retirees a financially viable choice. Right now, many low-income people are forced into MedicareAdvantage (MA) plans because they are cheaper to purchase up front. But delays and denials in MA plans are costly andin some cases have been deadly. Profit- driven corporate insurers stand in the way of doctor/patient healthcare decisions. SJM 8002 passed the Senate but it failed to get a House vote before the cut off. We will advocate for itspassage in the 2026 session.

PSARA has been joined by large national organizations that have embraced the “level the playing field” strategy.You can read more about this and other issues PSARA is undertaking in past issues of The Retiree Advocate as well as innumerous national publications. And you can view many of our webinars on our YouTube station,www.youtube.com/@psaraWA.

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Additional advocacy and education continue on racial and climate justice issues, including support for reparations toAfrican Americans and a coalition campaign to influence the Washington State Investment Board to divest from fossilfuel corporations.

Your donations will also assist in covering the costs of creating and distributing The Retiree Advocate. Every year,PSARA takes on the challenge to sustain a one-staff-person, volunteer- driven organization. With your support, PSARAhelps build a progressive movement with our partners while publishing a quality newsletter, which we’ve done for over40 years.

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Our Education Fund also supports cultural events. We are planning a Juneteenth, in-person celebration this year withthe theme With Hope We Unite, Resist, and Overcome. We are also planning a concert, a book release event,continuing our oral history project of PSARA members, and much more.

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GiveBIG days are May 6 and May 7. Early online giving for GiveBIG starts on April 22. Donations can be made from April22 through May 7 by going to https/www.wagives.org/donate/ PSARA-Education-Fund. Or you can go to wagives.org/donate/ and enter the PSARA Education Fund in the search function. Once there you can donate beginning April 22.

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If you prefer not to donate online, or if you want the Education Fund to receive the full amount of your donation, you cansend a check to PSARA Education Fund anytime between now and May 7. Please mail your check to PSARA EducationFund, 321 16th Avenue South, Seattle, WA 98144 and write GiveBIG in the memo line. If you choose this option, the creditcard fee we pay for online processing is eliminated.

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Thank you for your generous donations. Continuing our work requires more revenue than our $20 membership dues. Wehope you can help to continue the production and distribution of the newsletter and our educational programs andadvocacy work. Thank you for being a PSARA member.

 

Karen Richter is Co-President of PSARA and Vice President of the PSARA Education Fund.