Virginia
Master Gardener Association, Inc.
Annual
Meeting
June
25, 2005
Call to Order
President Bill McCaleb called
the meeting to order at 7: 02 PM in the theater of Torgerson Hall on the Campus
of Virginia Tech. President Bill McCaleb welcomed those attending.
Minutes
The minutes of 2004 Annual
Meeting were approved.
Vice President's Report
Vice President Cheri Haggerty
reported on the number of units we have represented in the VMGA. We have
increased from 24 reporting units in 2002 to 40 units reporting in 2005. In
2002 we mailed 15 sets of minutes and in 2005 we mail 3. Our goal is to have
representation from all MG units.
Treasurer's Report
Treasurer Pat Reilly reported.
The annual audit was completed on June 18,2005.
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Overall
Balance of Accounts |
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Checking Account Balance |
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$6,876.44 |
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Money Market (including PDR EEF of $5297.29) |
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$7,361.20 |
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CD Balance |
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$6,494.29 |
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Total Overall Balance of Accounts |
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$20,731.93 |
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Checking
Account |
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Balance as of 5/31/2004 |
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$3,175.17 |
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Income |
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FY 06 dues |
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$2,638.49 |
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FY07-FY14 dues* |
$3,976.00 |
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EEF |
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$734.00 |
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VT Endowment |
$830.00 |
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Education - lunch, other fees |
$997.00 |
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Misc/Transfer |
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$2,030.70 |
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total income |
$11,206.19 |
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Expenses |
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Membership |
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-$1,130.39 |
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Newsletter |
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-$3,466.96 |
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Communication, Unit Support |
-$556.20 |
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Education |
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-$734.93 |
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EEF |
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-$610.00 |
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VT Endowment |
-$830.00 |
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State Fair |
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-$53.99 |
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Officer - President |
-$25.00 |
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Officer - Secretary |
-$25.20 |
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Officer - Treasurer (bank fees) |
-$72.25 |
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total expenses |
-$7,504.92 |
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Balance as of 5/31/2005 |
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$6,876.44 |
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Audit - Jim Scibek - Chair
The audit committee consisted of
Ted Jenks (Rockbridge-Bath), Bud Gregory (Northern Shenandoah). The audit was
completed June 18, 2005 and is an attachment to these minutes.
President’s Report
President Bill McCaleb reported:
·
The President
participated in the West Virginia Master Gardener Conference held at Cacapon
State Park May 13-15, just outside of Berkeley Springs WV. Their theme for the Conference was “Growing
Gardeners, Partnerships, and Communities”.
·
The VMGA has
partnered with the Virginia Nursery and Landscape Association (VNLA), VDACs,
Virginia Tech and State University, Virginia Cooperative Extension and local
government entities across Virginia.
Our support of the VNLA’s efforts secured a $271,000 grant from the
Tobacco Indemnification and Revitalization Board to be used to develop species
specific to our growing conditions. We
will be able to show our rural agricultural counties that there are viable
alternatives to growing traditional crops.
·
Plant Introduction
Program or PIP: We have sites in all parts of the Commonwealth and Master
Gardeners will be a part of the evaluation process for the foreseeable
future. Research is normally a VT/VCE
responsibility but we have a great opportunity to help in the evaluation
process, introduce clients, students, and others to our sites.
·
We've
had a great year full of opportunities and challenges and we have risen to
grasp those opportunities and have met the challenges. What lies ahead for Virginia’s Master
Gardeners? A future of going and
growing. A future filled with
satisfaction for the work we do for the citizens of the Commonwealth of
Virginia.
Standing Committee Reports
Education - Fran Shelton and Pinky Deriuex - Co-Chairs
The Education
Committee has had a relatively easy year. In September of this past year, we
had our Fall program at the State Arboretum in Blandy. 55 attended and 7
cancelled due to the hurricane.
The Good Gardening Symposium was held
on March 12, 2005 at the Appomattox Regional Governor’s School in Petersburg,
Virginia entitled “Right Plant/Right Place” and was hosted by Barbara Geer. On
April 12, 2005, the Chesterfield MGs sponsored a program at Lewis Ginter
entitled “Horticulture Horizons, Looking Down the Garden Path”. Both programs
were approved by VMGA for educational hours and VMGA members were invited to attend
from throughout the state.
The Education Committee established
two policy changes, which were approved by the Board:
1.
No Refunds - On the
registration forms for any educational event, there will be language stating no
refunds will be given without 5 days’ notice prior to the event.
2.
Cancellation – If it
becomes necessary to cancel an educational event due to hurricane, natural
disaster, etc., those who have registered for the event will be notified by
e-mail within 48 hours of the event.
For those not having e-mail, phone calls will be made and voice messages
left. In the January Newsletter, page
2, these policies are set forth more clearly.
Note: If VMGA cancels the
educational program, your monies will be returned.
The Fall program will be held at the
Hampton Roads AREC, Virginia Beach, Virginia, on Saturday, September 10th.
Remember that the Committee normally
plans a Spring and Fall Program, so we will assist anyone who would like our
help.
Newsletter - Florace Arnold, Editor
Thank you for your support this
year. George Graine has always come through with an interesting and timely
article for each issue. Pat Reilly has sent in the articles concerning VCE
activities that are important to us and Bill McCaleb has done a great job of
getting his President's report to me promptly. I would especially like to thank
Betty Villers for putting together the News from Around the State. Thanks also
to the Unit Representatives who have shortened their reports so that we can get
all of the news in the report. Thanks also to all the MGs who have sent in
articles and announcements.
We have mailed an average of 542 copies
every other month at an average cost of $1.07.
Membership - Pauline Price, Chair
Pauline reported that as of June
20, 2005 we have 565 Regular members and 126 Life members. 251 memberships
expired on May 31. During the past year we began adding your expiration date to
mailing labels created by Membership for the newsletter.
Unit Support - Frank
Reilly, Chair
Members: Pat Reilly, Karen Sacasky, Kerry Goldmeyer, Pinky Derieux,
Susie McCrea and Frank Reilly and whomever else we need.
·
Northern Neck
requested job descriptions for paid MG Coordinators. We poled the paid coordinators we know and provided job
descriptions for 5 different positions.
Most MG Coordinators have duties in addition to MG Volunteer
coordination. These job descriptions
will be posted on the web site at the Unit Support Committee page, since it
seems likely that additional units will realize the advantage of providing a
paid coordinator.
·
Pat Reilly and Dave
Close appeared on Farm TV in mid July to discuss MG issues.
·
Karen Sacasky
visited with the new MG training class in Nelson County and gave a
presentation. Subjects covered VMGA,
VCE, History of MG Program, History of Land Grant Universities and Cooperative
Extension
·
We answered a
question from a Unit concerning the use of Local Association Funds, and
required wording on MG Association Banners.
· We maintained a page dealing with the Critical Staffing Initiative, and arranged four email solicitations urging Master Gardeners to contact their legislators.
Communication Committee -
Frank Reilly, Chair
Members: Cheri Haggerty, Kathryn
Debnar, Shelby Snyder and Chair Frank Reilly and whomever else we can get.
·
November 12th
marked our sixth anniversary as VMGA.net.
We’ve grown from a single page giving the minutes of the last meeting to
a large web site with more than 250 pages of content and nearly 100,000
visitors annually.
·
Since the last
Annual Meeting 93751 visitors to VMGA.net. We average 257 discrete visitors per day.
·
The most popular
pages in the last year have been Hort Update, Minutes, Calendar, News,
Education, and Membership.
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Remember that we can
help you host your site for a while under certain conditions.
·
We prepared a recruiting
CD for MG College. This PowerPoint
presentation was made available to every Unit.
2 formats were provided; one with narration that ran like a slide show,
and another requiring manual advance, but that was accompanied by a
script. The CD also contained
information about VMGA Scholarships to MG College.
· We prepared and distributed an announcement of the upcoming vote about new membership classes and a dues notification for every member of record. This mailing was sent May 19th using the most up-to-date postal information available to the Membership Chair.
Attached is the FY06
Budget together with assumptions. It should be noted that EEF Scholarships are
forecast to be paid from operating funds. The current endowment does not
generate sufficient revenue to fund the scholarships and growth accumulation.
An additional $200 will come from general funds if surplus funds don't
materialize from FY06 operations. Additionally, the entire proceeds from the
silent auction at Master Gardener College are forecast to go to the endowment
for the state coordinator.
Special Committee Reports
State Fair - Christy Brennan, Chair
The State Fair will
be held September 22nd through October 2nd 2005 at the Richmond Raceway Complex
at Strawberry Hill. One of the primary objectives of the Fair is the
scholarship program. "Since the program's inception in 1989, The State
Fair Scholarship Program has
awarded 1,431
scholarships and has dedicated nearly one and a half million dollars to youth
education."
The Horticulture
Building (where our booth is located) is being billed as Virginia's Largest
Outdoor Class Room. This year the plan is for the Master Gardener Booth to
become a key part of the "Outdoor class room" by providing school
children with an interactive display as well handouts concerning conservation
and gardening.
Last year The Fair
Organizers were very complimentary of the Master Gardeners and how much they
appreciated our volunteers and their enthusiasm. They are really looking forward
to our participation this year. I want to remind the Master Gardeners that they
could enter their gardening best at the Fair, by going on-line to www.statefair.com. The participation
had been slow in
previous years and the Fair was hoping the Master Gardeners
could help to
encourage participation. I was very excited to see that the board had approved
most of the proposed budget for the State Fair 2006. (Christy also had a
calendar of dates for units present to sign up as volunteers. The calendar will
be in the VMGA Report.)
Fundraising Committee - Cheri Haggerty, Chair
The Fund Raising
Committee was formed at the October 2004 meeting. The committee is responsible
for raising funds while encouraging membership and renewals. The committee
members include Cheri Haggerty as Chair, Christy Brennan, Kathryn Debnar,
Jackie Lohr, Pat Reilly, and Cheryl Sebera.
The committee met
again at the December 2004 meeting. At this meeting it was decided that funds
earned from this committee would initially be earmarked for the MG Coordinator
Endowment Fund. As this Fund begins to grow, the committee may elect to use the
funds for other projects. We met electronically until the February 2005 meeting
where it met with the committee formed for the establishment of the MG
Coordinator Fund. As this committee's goal had been reached with the new fund
in place, the members of that group became a sub committee of the Fundraising
committee. Their focus is the Silent Auction as those funds are for the MG
Coordinator Endowment.
The Silent Auction
subcommittee consists of Angela Cingale, Pauline Price, Agnes Gregory, Ann
DeForest, Shelby Snider, Ginny Craig, Christy Brennan, Janet Scott, Cheri
Haggerty and Pat Reilly.
The group has met
exclusively by email. Emails were sent to unit contacts from a list provided by
Dave Close, State MG Coordinator Requests were made to units to donate 2 items
in value of $10 - $45 by subcommittee members who ‘adopted’ a VCE district or
two. Pauline Price heads the on-site portion of the auction.
As of Thursday, June
23, nearly 100 items have been received from Chesapeake, Northern Neck, Jackie
Lohr and York County, Angela Cingale and JCC/Williamsburg, Chesterfield, Prince
William, Frank and Pat Reilly, Debbie Hamilton, Leslie Paulson, Roanoke, Shelby
Snider, Barbara Leach, The Handmade Furniture Shop, The Candy Store, The
Williamsburg Brass Shop, The Regina Shop, Ann DeForest, Wild Birds Unlimited,
Fresh Market, Miller’s Greenhouses, Minouche Robinson, Margaret Mondul,
Washington County, Phil Flarsheim, Ann Martin, Halifax, Jean Bainbridge,
International Paper Co., Pat Gamache, Brunswick County, Charlotte County,
George Graine and Fairfax Merrifield, Fairfax Green Spring, Franklin County,
Fauquier County, Felder Rushing, MG of Northern VA (Arlington/Alexandria), MGA
of Central Rappahannock Area and The Paper Factory in Williamsburg. Items will
also be collected at MG College from those units who chose not to submit them
ahead of time.
If our attempts to
contact your unit or association weren’t successful, we apologize. We did not
mean to exclude anyone. However, we had such an overwhelming response that we
did not follow up on emails to other units.
Credit cards are
being accepted as payment, thanks to Frank Reilly. Check out will be expedited
with lines for cash, check or credit card. A final list of donors and the sales
totals will be reported at the August Board meeting.
The committee has many ideas for
branded merchandise for both VMGA members and Master Gardeners. The first item
offered is a garden flag with the VCE logo on it. They will be available for
purchase at MG College and through the end of August 2005. The committee will
then move on to other items.
Educational Endowment Fund - Paul Campbell, Chair
Scholarship selection committee members
for 2005 were George Graine (Fairfax), Al Thompson (Lynchburg), Sybil Pryzbk
(York), Susie McCrea (New River), Judy Kinney (Lynchburg) and Paul Campbell
(Virginia Beach). Donations for the MG College Educational Endowment Fund were
obtained during the period June1, 2004 through May 31, 2005. Donations were
received from New River MGA, Fauquier County MGA, Sue Burton in memory of
Barbara Fraley, Elizabeth Overton in memory of Ed Overton, Susie McCrea, Nancy
Weinberg, Barb Valente, Sally Price, Chuck Miller and several donors who wish
to remain anonymous. There were a total of 25 applications received. The
committee reviewed the applications and using their best judgement voted via
e-mail for the selectees. There were six $100.00 scholarships. Scholarship
recipients awarded their scholarships at MG College this year were:
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Jean Bainbridge |
Halifax |
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Jackie Lohr |
York |
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Virginia Oyler |
Franklin |
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Gail Sigler |
Fairfax |
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Jane Wyman |
Prince William |
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Tommie White |
Washington |
Coordinator's Endowment Committee - Pat Reilly, Chair
Committee consists of
Pat Reilly (Chair), Angela Cingale, Dave Close, Kathryn Debnar, Carol Dixon,
Jane Pratt Schilling and Jim Scibek. Bill McCaleb, VMGA President, is
participating as an ex officio
member. Max Bales, Director of Development for CALS, is also active with the
committee.
Over the past year,
the committee has met for one day-long planning session and shorter meetings
after VMGA Board meetings. Most of the work is done by email. Accomplishments
of the year include:
·
Wrote the agreement
between VMGA and Virginia Tech to establish the endowment
·
Received a unanimous
vote by the VMGA Board in December to enter into the agreement which President
Bill McCaleb and CALS Dean Sharron Quisenberry signed in March
·
Wrote a case
statement for the endowment
·
Submitted articles
for publication in each VMGA Report
·
Updated the VMGA web
site with endowment information and set up donations by PayPal
·
Created an electronic
presentation about the endowment
·
Created giving levels
and the “$50 for 5” campaign
·
Requested a minimum
$100 donation of 100% of units to demonstrate unity for the endowment to
potential donors, foundations
·
Supported the Fund
Raising Committee’s Silent Auction effort to benefit the endowment
·
Received and
transferred donations to the Virginia Tech Foundation for the endowment
Plans for the coming
year include:
·
Reach the 100% goal
of units donating to the endowment to show unity to potential donors
·
Match the $50,000
pledged donation
·
Develop a list of
potential donors and begin solicitation
·
Begin writing grants
The committee wishes
to express deep gratitude to the anonymous donor who pledged a $50,000 matching
gift. The gift showed that we are doing something that others believe in, and
will support.
We are very grateful
to the CALS Development Office for working with us, guiding us through the
agreement process and for teaching us so much about endowments and the
generosity of people.
Finally, the
committee also wants to thank each individual and each unit who have contributed
to the endowment.
Membership Classes, - Frank Reilly, Chair
Ad
hoc Committee Kerry Goldmeyer, Pauline Price, Kathyn Debnar,
and Ted Munns
Purpose: to add two new classes of
membership
·
Auxiliary Membership – for those unable to maintain
Active Master Gardener Status
·
Sustaining Membership – to allow individuals and groups
who wish to support VMGA and the work of Virginia Master Gardeners to show
their support with a large annual gift.
By-Laws
Changes:
Article
III Membership Section 1. The two classes of membership are Active and
Lifetime. All members are eligible to
vote and hold office.”
Will be changed to:
Article III Membership Section 1. The four
classes of membership are Active, Lifetime, Auxiliary and Sustaining. Active Members & Life Members are
eligible to vote and hold office.
Add
(c)
Auxiliary. Auxiliary membership is open
to individuals who have been active members of VMGA but are no longer able to
maintain active status, with an interest in Virginia Master Gardening. Auxiliary members will not be eligible to
vote or hold office. Auxiliary members
will be required to pay dues as set by the Board.
(d) Sustaining. Sustaining membership is
open to individuals, groups or corporations with an interest in advancing the
work of Virginia Master Gardening.
Sustaining members will not be eligible to vote or hold office.
Article
XII Amendment of By-Laws. These by-laws
may be amended at any meeting of the Association by a two-thirds majority vote
of the members present and voting, provided that notice of the proposed
amendment(s) has been given to the membership at least thirty days prior to the
meeting where they are to be voted upon.”
Will be changed to read:
Article
XII Amendment of By-Laws. These by-laws
may be amended at any meeting of the Association by a two-thirds majority vote
of the Active and Life members present and voting, provided that notice of the
proposed amendment(s) has been given to the membership at least thirty days
prior to the meeting where they are to be voted upon.
Lifetime Membership Karen Sacasky, Chair
Committee
members were Barbara Geer, Carolyn Norrington, Chuck Norrington and Paul
Campbell.
The
committee made their recommendation to the board on December 11, 2004 to retain
the
Lifetime
membership category. The dues amount will be set as 10 times the annual dues as
established
by the board at the June meeting. The Membership chair and the State MG
Coordinator
will confirm the active status of lifetime members. This will have no effect on
the
status
of Honorary Life members.
Extension Liaison Report - David Close, MG State Coordinator
·
Excited and looking
forward to the next year
·
Advisory team for
2006 MG College has been established
·
The 20th annual MG College will take place in 2007. A
lot of advance planning is already taking place to make it extra special.
Unfinished Business
There was no unfinished business.
New Business
Announcements
Next Board Meeting – Saturday, August
13 2005 at 10:00 a.m. in Prince William County. The meeting was adjourned at
8:15 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
Cheri Haggerty
VMGA Vice President
for
Betty Villers
VMGA Secretary
19 June 2005
Subject: VMGA 2005 Annual
Audit Report
The
VMGA
2005 Annual Audit Committee consisting of Jim Scibek, chairperson,
Ted Jenks and Bud Gregory met on Saturday 18 June 2005 and reviewed
documentation for all four VMGA accounts. These accounts include
the Certificate of Deposit (No. xxxxxxxx), the Money Market account (No.
xxxxxxxxxxx), savings account (No. xxxxxxxxxxxx
) monies from which were transferred into the Money Market account on
10/14/04 and the account canceled), and the checking account (No.
xxxxxxxxxxxx). All accounts are.
with Sun Trust Bank. The committee reviewed documentation including
check registers, canceled checks, bank statements, and receipts. The committee
finds that these records accurately and correctly represent the financial
transactions of VMGA for the period 1 June 2004 to 31
May 2005.
The
committee did find a couple of areas where we would like to make suggestions
for future documentation. First, we would recommend complete records for
deposits such as dues for one year, multi‑year and life; EEF
contributions; Education committee events; etc. Several entries were
missing these records. These records should be separate from the check register
with summary entries then made to the heck register. Second, we would recommend
that column "C" of the checkbook register be utilized using
an "R"
to show each item had been reconciled between Quicken and the bank
statement. The Audit Committee feels that the categories showing multi‑year
and life dues disbursement are very good. After reviewing all of the accounts,
the Audit Committee fully supports the Finance
Committee objectives in finding better ways to maximize return on all
monies.
If
you have any questions, please contact a member of the Audit Committee as shown
below.
Respectively submitted,
Jim Scibek, Ted Jenks, Bud Gregory
VMGA, Inc.
June1, 2005
to May31, 2006
VMGA, Inc
FY06 Budget
June 1, 2005 to May 31, 2006
Income: Amount
Membership
Regular $5,640
Lifetime 1,560
Education 3,000
Fundraising 3,000
Total Income: $13,200
Expenses:
Communication/Support $450
Education 3,000
EEF Scholarships 400
Elections 360
Endowment 200
Fundraising 150
Gifts 3,000
Marketing 150
Membership & Roster 1,600
Newsletter 3,500
State Fair 220
Officers Expense
President 75
Vice President 25
Secretary 35
Treasurer 35
Total Expenses: $13,200