Minutes of the April Regularly Scheduled Meeting of

The Virginia Master Gardener Association, Inc.

April 12, 2003

Fairfax, VA

(Draft)

Attendance

 (Chesapeake) Jane Montgomery, Pauline Price; (Fairfax) Adria Bordas, Charlie Hood, George Graine, Teri O'Brien; (Fauquier) Andrew Orland, Lenore Plissner, Jim Scibek; (Gloucester) Florace Arnold, Noel Prieseler; (Goochland-Powhatan) Alexandria Haselman  (Hanover) Cheri Haggerty; (Henrico) Susan Anthony (James City /Williamsburg) Angela Cingale, Ralph Cingale, Dale Firestone, Shirley Firestone; (Lynchburg-Amherst-Campbell) Catherine Powers, Karen Sacasky; (Northern Neck) Jinny Estell, Pat Rogers; (Northern Shenandoah Valley) Chuck Walters, Sally Walters (Prince George) Cheryl Sebera; (Prince William) Julie Cochran, Scott Cochran Debbie Hamilton, Louise Livinghouse, Frank Reilly, Pat Reilly; (Roanoke) Lynn Snider, Shelby Snider (Rockbridge) Caroline Norrington, Chuck Norrington; (Virginia Beach) Paul Campbell; (York) Jackie Lohr.

Call to Order

President Jim Scibek called the meeting to order at 10:02.

Introductions

George Graine welcomed us on behalf of Fairfax County. He introduced Tom Underwood from the American Horticultural  (AHS). Tom welcomed us to River Farm on behalf of the AHS. The AHS has 27000 members across the country. He presented each of us with a copy of their publication, "The American Gardener". River Farm has been home to AHS about 30 years. He asked us to be sure to walk the grounds and enjoy the plants and the view. AHS offers many programs throughout the summer at River Farm. The AHS Board has adopted an exciting vision statement that will create a national center for home gardening at River Farm.

George then introduced us to the Fairfax agent, Adria Bordas. Adria brought copies of the Fairfax annual report to share with us. He also introduced Teri O'Brien, incoming Fairfax President.

Minutes

The minutes were accepted as posted with the provision to correct the header. It still says December.

Treasurer’s Report

Treasurer Shelby Snider reported:

The treasurer's report was accepted as presented pending annual audit.

President’s Report

President Scibek commented that the VSU event was a fantastic happening! The following week he attended the Gardening Symposium at Prince George. He was quite impressed with the affair. The VMGA will be cosponsoring the symposium beginning next year.  He returned to the Prince George area to present certificates to their new class.

He also created letters for Roanoke to present to the new MGs. They are available for other units to use at their graduations.

Diane Relf is retiring from VA Tech this July. She will continue to assist the VT Horticulture department and the MG program until a replacement has been hired for Sarah Lineberger.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Education - Lenore Plissner, Chair

"The Organic Garden of Eden" on March 8 at Virginia State University (VSU) was a great success. The subjects of the sessions plus the speakers (Andy Hankins, Chris Mullins, and Lynn Trott) received very positive comments. Thanks to Fran Shelton and Pinky Derieux for their preliminary trips to Petersburg to arrange for the rooms and lunch; to Debbie Hamilton, Louise Livinghouse, and Margaret Van Winkle for handling pre‑registration and registrations at the door, to Cheri Haggerty for working with Cheryl Sebera and Barbara Geer (non‑members of the Education Committee) to see that registrants were well fed before the first session; to Mike Holmes for collecting comment sheets (92 out of 129 in the audience); and to Ann Gorrell for volunteering to analyze the comments.

Save September 27 for a fall trip to Monticello and Tufton Center for Historic Plants. Peter Hatch and Peggy Cornett have been recruited to keep us on their calendar for the date. Topics for the visits will be firmed up later this spring.

March 13, 2004, has already been scheduled for the second Garden Symposium day in Disputanta, Prince George County, under the direction of Barbara Geer.

The next meeting of the Education Committee will be at MG College in Blacksburg.

Newsletter - Florace Arnold, Editor

Florace thanked all of us for our contributions to the newsletter. She asked that we share our resources with the newsletter staff. Resources include favorite publications, web sites, nurseries or garden sites.

Because of the early date for the June Master Gardener College, Florace would like to get the Report out by the end of May

Membership - Julie Cochran (Outgoing Chair)

 Pauline Price, Chair

For the last 18 months, Julie has had the privilege to serve as Membership chair and today was the big handoff to Pauline. We gained 99 members since the last meeting and March 20.  As Of March 20, we have 487 members. 248 in current renew status, 165 renew for 2 years and two people who couldn't stop sending in their membership and are renewed through 2005 and 72 life members. Once Pauline gets in sync with Shelby, we will go over 500 members for the first time.  We picked up 60 members from the VSU event and 22 new members from Northern Neck.

Julie thanked Karen Sacasky, Shelby Snider and Pat Reilly for their tremendous help. Their names have been passed on to Pauline.

Communication/Unit Support - Frank Reilly, Chair

Unit Support

Members: Pat Reilly, Karen Sacasky, Kerry Goldmeyer, Cheri Haggerty and Frank Reilly and whomever else we need. 

1.       Cheri Haggerty has updated the Unit Contact Information, and made a contact information request to each Unit.  A form for contact information exists now on the web site

2.       Frank Reilly has fielded some questions about the utility of forming an association from two different local associations. 

Communication Committee

Members:  Cheri Haggerty, Angela Cahn, Shelby Snyder and Chair Frank Reilly and whomever else we can get.  This time we had the unbelievable help of Eleanor Ames a MG in Page County who has finished a MG College recruiting CD. 

1.       Since the February, regularly scheduled meeting there have been 11088 visitors to VMGA.net.  Outside of the US, our visitors come from more than 27 countries.  Canada provides the most hits (1103 during the period) followed by Australia (244) and the UK (101).

2.       Since the February regularly scheduled meeting, the web page has been updated on 27 separate occasions.

3.       The most popular pages in the last three months have been Membership, and the October minutes they must have been pretty entertaining with over 600 visitors.  The Hort updates as a whole dwarf all but the front page for visitors, but each one only gets about 200- 300 visitors.

4.       Angela Cahn is currently accepting changes to the calendar.  Cheri Haggerty maintains the links page.  Both pages have been updated and you can expect more there soon.

5.       The MG College Agenda is already up at the VMGA page.  As soon as the on-line registration materials have been distributed to the Agents and Coordinators, we will have a link at VMGA to the registration page.

6.       We will be sending out a MG College CD in the next two weeks, and I could use some help burning the CDs.

7.       Membership Applications are available on-line at the Membership page.

Unit Reports

The Unit reps attending gave reports and they will be posted at VMGA.net.

State Fair

Reservations for unit days can be made after May 1. The Fair will be in the same location this year.

Education Endowment Fund

The committee consists of Pat Reilly, Chuck and Sally Walters. Nominations for MG scholarships are due May 15 with awards being made May 25. The actual check will be given at our annual meeting. The criteria are the same as last year. The recipient must be an active MG and a member of the VMGA. The target audience will be MGs who are in a leadership position or show potential to be a leader or role model. Preference will be given to MGs who have not yet attended MG College or show need. Information will be distributed to Agents/Coordinators with the Master College CD. Local units will determine how the nominees are selected.

The total dollar amount of scholarships is determined by the amount of interest paid on the money market and Endowment fund plus any other funds contributed to the endowment.

We want to maintain the original amount of $3000.00. We have had more donations to the fund than interest earned due to the economy.

After discussion, it was moved and seconded to offer ten $50 scholarships. Motion carried.

The executive board asked that the current committee continue to serve. Noel Priseler also volunteered to serve on the committee.

Extension Liaison - reported by Frank Reilly

The rough draft of the agenda is posted at VMGA.net. The final agenda has gone to the printer and will be out in one to several weeks. Within the next week or two, a list of hours will be sent to local Agents/MG Coordinators of those up for service awards. We will use the state reporting system to generate the list of award winners. Hours posted by April 15 will be used as the basis for awards. The committee will accept hours submitted by Agents/Mg Coordinators if they are not in the state reporting system.

Registration will be accepted via mail, telephone, fax or the secure online system. Within one to two days of the receipt of registration, you will receive your confirmation.

Brag Night and the Herbal Cooking contest will be offered again this year. Contact Jim Scibek for a Brag Night table.

Unfinished Business

There was no unfinished business.

New Business

A motion was made and seconded to allocate $500 from the General Fund to the Education Endowment Fund. The motion passed unanimously after limited discussion.

Discussion was held on how best to honor Dr. Relf at her retirement. Suggestions included some type of yard art, custom stepping stone, donation in her name to The Flora of Virginia Project or renaming the Education Endowment Fund in her honor.

A motion was made and seconded to rename the Education Endowment Fund to The P. Diane Relf Education Endowment and to purchase an appropriate stone or yard art with a limit of $200. Pat Reilly will head the committee to make the appropriate choice. George Graine and Louise Livinghouse will serve on the committee.

Announcements

The annual meeting is Saturday night at MG College at 7:00PM.

Future Board meetings are scheduled as follows:

                                 June 5,2003      - Blacksburg   11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

                                                  August 9, 2003 - James City County-Williamsburg

 The meeting was adjourned at 1335.                  

Respectfully submitted,

Cheri Haggerty

Secretary

VMGA