Support Staff Minutes – October 2017

Joe Brogger, from Burnham and Flower, gave a brief talk about how Burnham and Flower can help K employees.

  • Burnham and Flower is an insurance company. They act as an intermediary for K to get the college the best possible deals for our health, dental and life insurance.
  • They are available to answer any benefit questions we might have and assist us as needed to resolve any issues pertaining to our insurance coverage. They can assist with billing questions, Explanation of Benefit questions and any questions regarding what is covered and what is not.
  • They are located in downtown Kalamazoo at 315 S. Kalamazoo Mall. They have walk-in hours where you can get help without an appointment every Thursday from 2 – 4pm.
  • K’s contact person is Terri Austin. Her phone number is 269.341.4827 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Her email is: taustin@bfgroup.com. If she is unavailable, contact Jeanette Meyer at 269.341.9744 or jmeyer@bfgroup.com.
  • Burnham and Flower will be available at the Health Fair this Friday to answer questions.

Lauryn Kindle announced the details of the Winter Clothing Drive service project:

  • Support Staff is collecting new or very gently used coats, snow pants and boots in kids sizes from small (size 4/5) to XL (size 16/18)
  • Collection boxes are in Mandelle, Dow, Dewing, Light Fine Arts and Hicks from October 23 – November 17th.
  • All clothing collected will be given to Communities in Schools and they will distribute them to Kalamazoo Public School students. Our contact, Emily Kobza ‘06 is a K grad.
  • Please consider asking your department to contribute to this effort.

Community Council Update

Kelly Esper and Frankie Hand are the new Support Staff Advisory Committee reps on the council.

Strategic Planning Update

You can continue to send your thoughts or suggestions to Lauryn Kindle. Work is ongoing by the committee including holding update meetings with all campus constituencies.

Benefits Review Group

Jennifer DiGiuseppe and Deia Sportel gave an update on their work to bring equity between support staff and administrative staff benefits. They said positive progress is being made and the changes will be announced by Thanksgiving.