In a world filled with confusing and conflicting acronyms, there is only one FEEA (if you exclude the Federation of Empirical Estimators of Albania), and it stands for Federal Employees Education and Assistance Fund.

FEEA is a feds-helping-feds charity. On steroids!

FEEA is designed to show up, cash in hand, at the worst of times. FEEA is there to help out U.S. government workers and their families in times of big-time need. Like after a hurricane. It also does scholarships.

FEEA also has a long-range program. For example, it is also handling all the college costs for children — many of them now adults — whose parents were killed in the attacks on the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, or at the Pentagon. Talk about an expensive and long-range committment!

FEEA also makes no-interest loans to feds in distress. Like now.

Since furloughs hit the IRS, Defense, EEOC, HUD and the EPA, some workers — who took a 20 percent pay cut — are having a hard time paying their bills.

So who pays FEEA’s bills?

Many federal workers are envious or suspicious of large corporations and government contractors. Sometimes for good reason. But …

A lot of the money FEEA has to spend comes from individual contributions from feds and retirees like you. But there are some other rather large angels out there who mostly fly under the radar screen. They are big corporations who have an interest in members of the federal family. Outfits like:

• GEICO, the insurance giant which hasn’t forgotten that when it started out, before the East Ender Gecko took over, its target market was federal employees. GEICO’s founders figured that feds were smart, well-trained and well- educated. Turns out they were right.
• Blue Cross-Blue Shield, the largest of the plans in the giant Federal Employee Health Benefits Program. The Blues, like GEICO, have a presence at federal events and shell out big bucks to FEEA.
• LTC Partners, the outfit that operates the federal government’s long term care insurance program, is also a generous contributor to FEEA, both at the national and local level.
• Compass Rose Charities is a quiet but loyal friend of FEEA. It represents the nation’s various intelligence agencies (if we tell you anymore we will have to terminate you with extreme prejudice), and sees FEEA as a friend of feds.
• Engility Corporation recently joined the fans of FEEA with a $25,000 contribution that will help the charity in this time of special need. Engility is a government services contractor based in Chantilly, Va.
• Federal News Radio is also a (proud, as we say) partner because all of us here at the station have seen first-hand what FEEA does.

Today at 10 a.m. FEEA Executive Director Steve Bauer, a retired Social Security employee, is the guest on our Your Turn radio show. Although soft-spoken and unassuming, Bauer has been known to board an airplane bound for a disaster site with a suitcase full of money in hand. So how does that work? Listen up, starting at 10 a.m. He’ll talk about how FEEA got started, what it’s doing now and how you can apply for assistance if you need it, or how you can pledge money to help your colleagues in distress.

Listen if you can (1500 AM or online), and if you have questions email them to me at mcausey@federalnewsradio.com or call in during the show at (202) 465-3080. The show will be archived here.

NEARLY USELESS FACTOID

Compiled by Nicole Ogrysko

A royal monarch can have an endless number of official titles. Juan Carlos I of Spain had 38 of them!

Source: Mental Floss

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