Happy Spring and Greetings to all! With Memorial Day just around the corner, many of us take this time to honor and remember family and friends we have lost. Many of us also have fond memories of co-workers: agents, correctional officers, supervisors, wardens and others. For some of us, they were more than just our peers but often became a wonderful friend or natural extension of our family – and are missed.

MCA recognizes and honors our fallen military service men and women. We also acknowledge and appreciate the service of thousands of active soldiers currently serving duty in the United States, Iraq and other areas of the world. Our profession has certainly been impacted, as many of our Corrections colleagues have previously, or are currently deployed. We are in debt to these service men and women and recognize the hardship and sacrifice on their families as well. It is heartening to see all of the support, fundraisers and other activities that are exerted on our veterans’ behalf – support that no likely will continue to increase in the future.  

MCA updates: We held our May Board meeting at the correctional facility in St. Cloud. Warden Patt Adair and Sherry Strand assisted with the arrangements and were gracious hostesses to our group. Work on an updated Operations Manual and By-Laws continues, and should be completed within two months. Many of the changes now underway are designed to make it easier for members to participate in MCA - in some fashion. We are aware that geographics and time can often be major obstacles for members, however, by streamlining the committee tasks and utilizing technology – we feel confident participation in MCA will become much more accessible in the near future. Stay tuned! In closing, please take a moment to check out the MCA website – it has a new look and contains information on what all of our committees are involved in. And as always, we’d love to hear from you, so please don’t hesitate to contact us.