D R A F T

 
Minutes of the Regularly Scheduled Meeting of
The Virginia Master Gardener Association, Inc.
April 14, 2007
Bedford

 

Attendance
(Amherst, Campbell, Lynchburg) Karen Sacasky, Debbie Straw; (Bedford) Lynn Boggess, Karen Craig,  Patty Gamache , Bob Gamache, Jim Revell; (Brunswick/Mecklenburg/Lunenburg, Nottaway)Virginia Myrick; (Chesapeake) Pinky Derieux; (Chesterfield) Lynn Foote; (Fluvanna) Joan Farren; (Goochland, Powhatan) Chuck Miller; (Grayson, Carroll County, Galax) Charlie Whittle; (Hanover) Cheri Haggerty; (Halifax) Agnes Gregory, Bill McCaleb; (Henrico) Beverly Cochrane; (Isle of Wight, Southhampton, Surry) Betty J. Hendrix; (James City County) Angela Cingale; (Loudon) Dave Hellums; (No. Shenondoah Valley/Clarke/Frederick/Page/Warren) Fran Gregory; (Prince George) Cheryl Sebera; (Roanoke) Kathryn Debnar; (Rockbridge/Bath) Ted Jenks, David Mims; (Stafford) Don Saunders; (Suffolk) Betty Freedman, Nita Holt; (Virginia Beach) Paul Campbell, Mary Ann Kincaid,  Jim Kincaid, Fran Shelton, Betty Villers; (York) Jackie Lohr. 

Call to Order
President Cheri Haggerty called the meeting to order at 10:05 a.m. and introduced Bedford’s Unit Representative.

Welcome
Patty Gamache welcomed everyone and introduced their President, Lynn Boggess.  Lynn told us about the different activities and accomplishments of the Bedford Master Gardeners.  Introductions followed around the room.

Minutes – Angela Cingale
No corrections were made to the February minutes and were approved as posted on the VMGA.net website.

 

Treasurer’s Report Ted Jenks

Report Accepted as pending audit.  The full Treasurer’s report is at the end of the minutes.  Ted acknowledged a $100 donation in memory of Bill Atkinson, from Virginia Beach, to the P.Diane Relf Education Endowment Fund for scholarships to Master Gardener College.  This donation increases the scholarships to 8 for the 2007 attendees. 

 

Standing Committee Reports

 

Education - Fran Shelton and Pinky Derieux, Co-Chairs
Members - Kathryn Debnar, Nancy Drewry , George Graine, , Chuck Miller, Debbie Hamilton,  Lenore Plissner,

and Al Thompson

Fran reported that the next Education Program will be held at Montpelier on September 28th.  Price for program is $12.00 for VMGA members and $24.00 for non-members.  Lunch will cost $8.50 each.  There will be tours of the grounds in the morning and afternoon.  Fran spoke about some initial expenses prior to the program which will entail an earlier than usual registration cut off date.

Newsletter - Florace Arnold - Editor

MaryAnn Kincaid reported that 399 newsletters were sent via e-mail and 156 via USPS. 

.

Membership - Mary Ann Kincaid - Chair

Mary Ann Kincaid reported that total membership is 561.   Active-397, Auxiliary 10, Lifetime 154. 

This is a net increase of  22 members since February and could reflect new interns becoming members.  Two-thirds of the memberships (369) expire in May.  These members will be receiving renewal notices the week of April 15th.

 

Unit Support/Communication - Frank Reilly, Chair
Unit Support /Website Members:  Pinky Derieux, Pat Reilly, and Karen Sacasky

No activity to report for April.

                              

Communications Members - Tom Bolt, Kathryn Debnar, George Graine, Cheri Haggerty, Shelby Snyder, Betty Truax .                                                            

 

Cheri read Frank Reilly’s report which included the following:

·          Since the February regularly scheduled meeting there have been 4,297visitors to VMGA.net. 

·          The web page has been updated on 39 separate occasions.

·          The most popular pages in the last three months have been Minutes, Horticultural Update, and Master Gardener College. 

·          The communications committee can help units host their site for awhile under certain conditions.

·          The page of links to local unit/association websites has been updated.  It now contains links to 21 local associations.  Not all of these sites are being kept current, and at least one of the links is dead.  Some websites are using pop-ups and Active X controls.  While these techniques can make a stunning site, many people now employ pop-up blockers, and spy-ware prevention.  The end result is delayed response time, in some cases pages that do not load properly.  Frank visited a site and was blocked by Google as a harmful site and he was unable to access it.  Units were asked to please check with their webmaster to be sure that the address is correct.

·          A new page to promote MG College is now open.  After this weekend, there will be a link there to download an MG College recruiting PowerPoint presentation.  He will update the classes and schedules as soon as he receives the information from Virginia Tech.

Kathryn Debnar asked the members to keep sending her their unit’s Calendar of Events at the k2garden@cox.net and she will post it.

 

Finance- Bill Scott, Chair

Members: Ted Jenks, Lennie Mather, and Brenda Shimchick

Ted Jenks read Bill’s report.  The Finance Committee members will be contacting the officers, Standing  and Special Committee Chairs for input on what funds they will need in the 2007-2008 budget for their needs by April 23rd;  Committee members will report their findings to Bill by April 30th;  draft a budget by May 7th ;  Inform the Executive Committee of their budget recommendation by May 21st. 

 

Special Committees

VMGA T-Shirt Fund-Raiser - Betty Villers
Betty has sold all the T-shirts from the first order of 144 T-shirts and is working on the 2nd order.  More T-shirts were bought today and orders from units were sold today at $10.00 each.  She mentioned all the sizes and procedure to order shirts through the unit reps.  A hearty thank you and round of applause for Betty who has done an outstanding job with this fund-raising activity for the MG Coordinator Endowment Fund.  Cheri announced that Betty Villers, Vice-President, has agreed to be Fund Raising Chairman for marketed items.  

 

Education Endowment Fund – Paul Campbell, Chair
 Paul reported that we will award 8 scholarships through the P. Diane Relf Education Fund.  So far, one request has been submitted for review.  The unit’s VCE agent has already received one application but can submit up to two (2) applications to the EEF committee for consideration by May 18th.  A winner can only receive the award once.  The membership was encouraged to support efforts for this fund 

 

Extension Liaison - Dave Close - MG Coordinator

Bill McCaleb read Dave Close’s report as follows: 

·          AAG – VCE Extension Agents have distributed nearly 50,000 seed packets; Dave is working on an AAG proclamation from the Governor’s office and an AAG planting at the Governor’s mansion in early May.  The statewide contest will wrap up in September.

·          State Record Keeping System – on hold; working on contacts for VCE administration (USDA has new reporting requirements for contacts)

·          In Season e-mail glitch – working with Information Technology specialists to determine problem when the Horticulture Horizons announcement was emailed for the Chesterfield Office. The IT folks assured him it was an anomaly and shouldn’t happen again. For future reference, only small, pdf files will be e-mailed.   Anything larger than 1 MB will not be forwarded.  Bill MCCaleb reminded us to send Dave any change to our e-mail address if we're not receiving the newsletter.  

·          MG College 2007 – list of speakers is almost complete; a good balance of basic and advanced topics; registration fee will be the same at $125 for the full conference; daily rates available as well; milestone award discounts will be the same as last year as well; there is a one year roll-over of these discounts but they can only be used one at a time (they are not cumulative); Here are the room and board rates without a $2.00 administration fee per person.  There is also 5% sales tax on lodging and meals :

                  Donaldson Brown Fees                                                   A/C Room (New Residence Hall East)

                  Single - $40.00                                                                  Single - $37.00

                  Double - $28.00                                                 Double - $26.00

 

                  Breakfast - $5.00 / Lunch - $7.50 / Dinner - $9.00 from the cafeteria.

:

·          The overall theme for this year’s Master Gardener College is Water Quality

·          Tour of VA –visited Newport News on April 4. Set a date to visit Portsmouth on July 6.     

·          Handbook Revisions – email was sent to chapter reviewers and Dave has requested that revisions be back by the end of May; he’s had positive response overall from folks being contacted about doing a review of the chapters. Additional volunteers may be needed to accomplish this work..

·          The winter issue of In Season was finally mailed on April 10 (email version went out March 15).  The Spring issue will only be released online due to its size; will be available during the week of April 23. 

·          Developed and displayed a poster at the Deans’ Forum on the Environment in February that highlighted all the Advanced Training modules which are serving as learning modules that incorporates citizen science. There were well over 300 posters at the conference. 

·          Held 2 one-day trainings in the Northern District at the end of March (March 23 & 24); it was a streamlined version of leadership development like the session held at MG College with 20 to 25 people at each session; one was in Culpeper, the other at Green Spring Gardens and it was well received. This presentation may serve as a model for other districts; agents were impetus behind organizing the event and securing the speakers.  Dave spoke on Risk Management, Culture of Change, and the Basics of Extension Programming on both days.

·          International MG Conference –He will be attending a State MG Coordinators meeting on May 2. 

·          Gave a presentation at the Emerging Issues Along the Urban-Rural Interface meeting in Atlanta this week; talked about the Land Care Steward module; roughly 200 scientists and agency representatives attended this conference. Keynote speakers included Deputy Secretary of United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service and a retired Director of the Population Division from the United Nations.

 

A reminder from Bill and Cheri that the dates are set for MG volunteers trip to Mississippi for Operation Rejuvenation which will take place October 22 to October 28;   The bus will hold up to 57 people. No decision on exact destination but Dave will communicate details once they are finalized.

 

Bedford Extension Agent- Scott Baker

Scott joined us a little late due to instructing a class on rain barrels.  He gave the membership a brief history of Bedford’s agricultural landscape and how changes are taking place.  He was most gracious in acknowledging his unit’s MGs and all MG’s for their tireless volunteering to make beneficial contributions to the state of Virginia.

 

Unit Reports

individual unit reports can be found on the VMGA website.  The unit representative’s topic for the meeting was, “Please report on your unit’s participation/attendance at MG College”.  A discussion followed on each unit’s ideas and approach on how they  share their experience, knowledge gained, and fellowship of MG College to their members and trainees.

 

Unfinished Business -Cheri

VMGA History Project – Cheri needs someone to work on bringing VMGA history up-to-date on website using the information passed on.

State Fair Team- Cheri announced that Christy Brennan will need more assistance with the state fair.  Christy  will  coordinate  a team of VMGA Master Gardeners.  The team would help by distributing the workload during the week.  A unit could help Christy by displaying a project for a couple of days or they could bring their brag boards.  The “Bug Box” with the live insects was the biggest display and the most looked at by the public.  The new site at Doswell in 2008 will have a bigger booth which will need many more volunteers and demonstrators.  The State Fair is working with Master Gardeners and the Green Industry to coordinate the booth’s display and layout.

Webmaster Assistance- Frank Reilly has help with Jim Villers and Kathryn Debnar but with constant updating of the many pages on the website, he would appreciate it if the units could talk to their Webmaster to see if they would share some of the tasks. They may contact Frank directly.

 

New Business

Betty Villers presented the newest Master Gardener marketed items as follows:

1)  A white ceramic coffee mug with the Master Gardener imprinted name on the side of cup which could also have a design of our choosing.  She had a copy of the dogwood design, because it’s our state flower, but the final design has not been finalized. 

2)  A Canvas tote bag of 100% canvas with contrasting trim.  A logo or MG name would be in the front.  The membership was not favorable to the tote bag at this time.

3) Car window cling/decal in 2 sizes – round and rectangular.  It was suggested that we imprint Virginia Cooperative Extension Master Gardener around the perimeter of the round decal with the VCE logo in the center.  These clings are available in 2 color or 3 color prints.  The 3 colors are easier to read. 

4)  License plate frame in durable plastic can be ordered in green, black, grey and white.    On top would be Virginia and on bottom of frame the words Master Gardener.  

5)  Lanyards were mentioned but most felt that because most units had their own that it wouldn’t be a good selling item.

 

A motion was made and approved that the mug with “Master Gardner” and dogwood design, window cling with VCE MG logo, and license plate frame, in white background and green lettering with Virginia Master Gardener, be ordered as fund-raising items for the 2007-2008 year.  Betty will have a sample of each of these items discussed to show at MG College.  The membership decided that we wouldn’t sell the items there due to special commemorative items already ordered for the 20th anniversary celebration.  More information about the items will be included with the MG College announcements of meetings, class schedules, instructors, and silent auction.  Marketed items will be available for sale in time for the VMGA August meeting in Upper Shenandoah/Glen Burnie and once the items are available for sale they will be posted on the fund raising page of the website with orders taken by Betty.

 

Search for Excellence-Cheri had guidelines, in a handout, on how a unit wins one of the Brag Boards awards.  The criteria were adapted from competitions at the regional and international MG conference called “Search for Excellence”.  A unit may order a table to display their unit’s project by contacting Cheri at their earliest convenience but before June 15th. 

Audit committee-Cheri will appoint committee by Mid-May.

 

Announcements

--VMGA meeting will be on Friday, June 22nd, at 5:00p.m. at MG College.  The day and time were changed to allow less interruption of instructional time for stewardship classes.

 --Annual VMGA meeting will be on Saturday, June 23rd, 7:00p.m., at MG College.  Scholarship awards will be given at this time.  Winners must be present to receive their award.

--MG Silent Auction items will be available for bidding purposes from Saturday morning until the annual meeting at 7p.m.  More information will be available on the website once all plans have been finalized.

--All meetings are posted at VMGA.net

-- MG College Goodie bags are being assembled by Patty Gamache and the Bedford MG’s.  If a unit wants to donate an item, the Unit should contribute 300 of an item representing their area.  The items must be sent or delivered to Patty by the end of May.   A donation, from one of the units, of 13 cases bottled water will be sent to Blacksburg directly. 

-- Cheri thanked the Bedford Master Gardeners for their wonderful hospitality and arrangements for a tour of the D-Day Memorial.

-- MG College will take place from June 19-24 and expectations are high that we see every unit represented.  Please look for further information at our website at www.VMGA.net before the end of the month.   Fran Shelton has offered to send any member a hints list of what to bring to MG College.

--Paul Campbell was named “Volunteer of the Year” by the Virginia Beach Rotary Club.

--Lynn Foote  announced there were openings for Chesterfield’s Horticultural Horizons event at Lewis Ginter, Tuesday, 4/24.

--Chuck Miller announced the Spring Garden Fest for the Goochland-Powhatan Master Gardeners for Saturday, April 28th.

Meeting adjourned at 1:35 p.m.


Respectfully submitted, 

Angela Cingale – VMGA Secretary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Virginia Master Gardener Association, Inc

Treasurer’s Report

April 14, 2007

 

 

Data As OF:

3/31/2007

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overall Balance of Accounts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Checking Account Balance

 

 

 

 

$5,601.18

 

PDR Education Endowment CD Balance

 

 

 

$8,019.11

 

Reserve CD Balance

 

 

 

 

$6,916.92

 

Future Dues CD Balance

 

 

 

 

$4,222.15

 

Total Overall Balance of Accounts

 

 

 

$24,759.36

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Checking Balance as of

1/31/2007

 

 

 

$4,778.04

 

 

Receipts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coord Endowment Gifts

 

 

 

 

 

FY 08-17 dues

$480.00

 

 

 

 

FY 07 dues (current FY)

$0.00

 

 

 

 

Education

 

$0.00

 

 

 

 

Fundraising

 

$575.00

 

 

 

 

Gift for EEF

 

$100.00

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

$1,155.00

 

 

Disbursements

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comm/Support

$0.00

 

 

 

 

Coord Endowment Cmte

$0.00

 

 

 

 

Coord Endow Gift Transfers

$0.00

 

 

 

 

Education

 

$0.00

 

 

 

 

EEF Gift Transfers

$0.00

 

 

 

 

EEF Scholarships

$0.00

 

 

 

 

Elections

 

$0.00

 

 

 

 

Fund Raising Cmte

$0.00