Virginia Master Gardener Association, Inc.
Annual Meeting
June 24, 2006
(update Draft on August 4, 2006)
Dave Close, State MG Coordinator welcomed everyone to MG College and introduced his lovely wife, Constance and four daughters, Page, Hannah, Molly, and Stacey who were in attendance. He reminded all to fill out the MG College evaluation forms before leaving for home.
Call to Order
President Bill
McCaleb called the 2006 Annual VMGA Meeting to order at 7:02 PM in the theater
of Torgerson Hall on the Campus of Virginia Tech and welcomed everyone
attending.
Minutes - Betty Villers
The minutes from
the 2005 Annual Meeting were approved.
Treasurer's Report - Pat Reilly
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Overall Balance of Accounts |
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Checking Account Balance |
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$9,457.68 |
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Money Market (including PDR EEF of $5297.29) |
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$7,661.01 |
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CD Balance |
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$6,606.40 |
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Total Overall Balance of Accounts |
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$23,725.09 |
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Checking Account |
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Balance as of 5/31/2005 |
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$6,881.74 |
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Income |
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FY 06 Dues |
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$3,626.00 |
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FY 07-16 Dues |
$3,930.00 |
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EEF |
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$229.00 |
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Education |
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$1,143.59 |
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Fundraising |
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$6,167.00 |
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Communication |
$24.95 |
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Gift for VT Foundation |
$1,717.95 |
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Elections |
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$3.12 |
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total income |
$16,841.61 |
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Expenses |
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Communication, Unit Support |
-$292.35 |
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EEF |
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-$600.00 |
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Education |
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-$1,153.10 |
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Elections |
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-$364.53 |
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Endowment Cmte |
-$82.51 |
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Gift to VT Foundation |
-$4,552.10 |
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Marketing |
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-$180.00 |
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Membership* |
-$1,493.25 |
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Newsletter |
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-$2,760.73 |
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State Fair |
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-$142.59 |
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Fundraising |
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-$2,506.90 |
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Officer - President |
-$45.00 |
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Officer - Secretary |
-$24.18 |
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Officer - Treasurer (bank fees) |
-$68.43 |
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total expenses |
-$14,265.67 |
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*includes $5.30 from FY05 |
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Balance as of 5/31/2006 |
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$9,457.68 |
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Year to Date Income & Expenses to Budget FY 06 |
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Income YTD |
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Committee |
Budget |
Income |
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Membership |
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FY 06 |
$5,640.00 |
$3,626.00 |
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FY 07-16 |
$1,560.00 |
$3,930.00 |
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Subtotal |
$7,200.00 |
$7,556.00 |
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EEF |
$0.00 |
$229.00 |
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Education |
$3,000.00 |
$1,143.59 |
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Fundraising |
$3,000.00 |
$6,167.00 |
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Communication |
$0.00 |
$24.95 |
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Gift for Endow |
$0.00 |
$1,717.95 |
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Election |
$0.00 |
$3.12 |
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total |
$13, 200.00 |
$16,841.61 |
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Expenses YTD |
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Committee |
Budget |
Expense |
Year-End |
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Comm/Support |
$450.00 |
-$292.35 |
$182.60 |
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EEF |
$400.00 |
-$600.00 |
$29.00 |
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Elections |
$360.00 |
-$364.53 |
-$1.41 |
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Endowment |
$200.00 |
-$82.51 |
$117.49 |
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Marketing |
$150.00 |
-$180.00 |
-$30.00 |
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Membership |
$1,600.00 |
-$1,493.25 |
$106.75 |
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Newsletter |
$3,500.00 |
-$2,760.73 |
$739.27 |
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State Fair |
$220.00 |
-$142.59 |
$77.41 |
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Fundraising |
$150.00 |
-$6.90 |
$143.10 |
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-$2,500.00 |
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Education |
$3,000.00 |
-$1,153.10 |
$1,846.90 |
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Gift CoordEndow |
$3,000.00 |
-$4,552.10 |
$1,552.10 |
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Officers Expense |
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President |
$75.00 |
-$45.00 |
$30.00 |
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Vice President |
$25.00 |
$0.00 |
$25.00 |
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Secretary |
$35.00 |
-$24.18 |
$10.82 |
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Treasurer |
$35.00 |
-$68.43 |
-$33.43 |
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total |
$13,200.00 |
-$14,265.67 |
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Audit - Bill Scott,
Chair
The audit committee consisted of Ted Jenks (Rockbridge-Bath), Jim Scibek
(Fauquier) and Bill Scott (Prince William). The annual audit was completed June
17, 2006 and is an attachment to these minutes. Committee acknowledged significant improvement in record keeping over
the last two years. Motion made and carried to accept Audit Committee report.
President’s Report - Bill
McCaleb
President Bill
McCaleb thanked everyone for the opportunity to serve the last two years, it
has been a pleasure. He and Dave Close have had the opportunity to visit other
states such as W Virginia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Michigan and
talk about how they are doing things in their MG program. Arkansas will
probable follow VA with a coordinator. They currently have a PhD running their
program.
· Have come a long way since 2 years ago. The creation of the endowment is a giant step for MGs to keep the position in perpetuity. We are the first to get it off the ground and running. Could not have done it without help from the University and Max Bales and Kim Christopoulos. Many units and individuals have contributed, with multiple donations from some units.
· Planning brought about a schedule for Board Meetings that everyone was well aware of, well in advance and posted to the website.
· Continuing Education has grown through local units putting on outstanding program opportunities for all those attending.
· Was guest speaker at six functions across the state for graduation and/or annual dinner meetings.
· Helped two new Master Gardener Units to start up in Appomattox and Lee County.
· Now have four membership categories; Active, Lifetime, Auxiliary and Sustaining. Auxiliary membership is open to those who maintain an interest in Virginia Master Gardening but are no longer active. Can be for those people who move out of state but want to keep in touch. Sustaining membership is open to individuals or corporations with an interest in advancing the work of Virginia Master Gardening. These people will be kept informed of what's going on in the MG program.
· Couldn't have done job without help of committee people and officers. Thanks to Cheri Haggerty for organizing our efforts in Richmond to education our legislators on the needs of the University and VCE.
· Tom Bolt tried to bank enough people to get us a Virginia Master Gardener License Plate but not enough people were interested.
· Revamped our Budget to spread out the lifetime fees as they should be.
· MG units across the state have contributed to the hurricane relief effort in Louisiana and Mississippi. VA MGs gave $1900 to Mississippi Extension to rebuild their program and $1550 to Louisiana Extension. More has been given from VA but the affiliation was not known.
· Electronic Newsletter now in effect, thanks to Tom Bolt and Florace Arnold.
· Plant Introduction Program or PIP is well into its second year and 100 MGs have volunteered to assist with this evaluation program. This is joint partnership between VaTech, VCE, Lynchburg College, VMGA and VNLA and Norfolk Botanical Garden. We did get a substantial grant in 2005 and got another to carry the program through 2007. July 24th will see a program at the Halifax site with key people from ISSR, Jersey Novak from VaTech, and farmers and growers who are interested in getting into the program.
Vice President's Report - Cheri
Haggerty
Vice President
Cheri Haggerty reported that in January VMGA partnered with VCE and spent
a weekend at the General Assembly in Richmond with MGs from Chesterfield,
Hanover, Henrico and Danville giving out information about MG contributions to
the commonwealth including number of hours and its value to the commonwealth.
VMGA partnered with Hanover MGs at the Maymont Show. Had 30 volunteers from 14 units across the state and made 600 contacts. Theme was America's Anniversary Garden.
We have same number of units represented as last year, 41, but they are different. We lost one and gained one. Looking to add unit reps from Louisa, Portsmouth and Arlington. The unit representatives report at Board Meetings what their unit is doing and hear what's happening in other units. You can go to the VMGA.net website and contact any officer and say you want to be the rep from your unit if you don't already have a rep.
Thanks to Patty Gamache (Bedford) for taking over the goodies bags for MG College. Also, thanks to Jim Revell for getting the bags to Blacksburg.
Standing Committee Reports
Education - Fran Shelton and Pinky Deriuex, Co-Chairs
Last fall the Education Committee sponsored a program at the Hampton Roads AREC with seven speakers and only 58 people in attendance.
This fall, Friday, October 27 the program will be at Maymont in Richmond. Peggy Singlemann from Maymont will be speaking followed by LeAnne DeBois, Williamsburg Extension Agent. Cost is $12 for VMGA members and $22 for nonmembers plus cost of lunch. There will be an extra charge for guided tours of the house and the gardens or you can tour on your own at no charge. There will be tram available for those who have difficulty walking.
Any unit can post their continuing education program on the VMGA website by contacting Kathryn Debnar and in return can get information about other programs in their area from the website.
Newsletter - Florace Arnold,
Editor
Bill McCaleb reported
for Florace. Continue to send unit reports and current news from your unit.
Membership - Mary Ann Kincaid,
Chair
As of today, there are
413 current members of VMGA. Of these 264 are active members, 6 auxiliary
members and 143 life members. We are awaiting renewal of 193 members
whose memberships expired 5/31/06.
Unit Support - Frank Reilly,
Chair
Members: Pat Reilly,
Karen Sacasky, Kerry Goldmeyer, Pinky Derieux, Frank Reilly and whomever else
we need.
· Answered question from local unit concerning use of local association funds and whether required VCE wording should appear if paid by the association funds.
· If your unit has any questions about membership, taxation or any other question go the web page and contact Unit Support.
Communication Committee - Frank
Reilly, Chair
Members: Cheri
Haggerty, Kathryn Debnar, Shelby Snyder, Paul Campbell, Tom Bolt and Chair,
Frank Reilly and whomever else we can get.
· Last fall marked our seventh 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 300 pages of content and nearly 100,000 visitors annually.
· Since the last Annual Meeting there have been 104,498 visitors to VMGA.net.
· The most popular pages in the last year have been Hort Update, Minutes, Calendar, News, Education, and Membership.
· Remember that we can help you host your site for a while under certain conditions.
Members are Pat Reilly, Al Thompson, Margaret VanWinkle, Ted Jenks, and Bill Scott. The committee reviewed the financial stability of the VMGA investments and is continuing to look at restructuring the investments to improve yield. They have prepared a budget for 2006-07 which is attached. Changes from 2006 Budget include Membership Dues Income that is more consistent with what is actually received. On the Expense side the Newsletter cost will be considerably less due to electronic distribution of the newsletter. Since Lifetime Dues are paid in a lump sum the Finance Committee proposed and the Board approved not spending the future years' dues until that year. Motion made and carried that the 2007 Budget be accepted as presented by the Finance Committee.
Special Committee Reports
State Fair - Christy Brennan, Chair
We had 4416 contacts last year at the State Fair, an increase of 15 percent. A total of 19 counties participated with 150 volunteers. We were one of the first to use the red, white and blue displays for the America's Anniversary Garden (AAG) theme and people were very interested.
This year the State Fair will be September 28th through October 8th again at the Richmond Raceway Complex at Strawberry Hill. Looking for volunteers to staff the booth. The booth is part of a classroom tour and school children will be coming by. It is publicized as the largest outside classroom. 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 with beneficial bugs and proper gardening techniques but there's not a lot of time only about 5 minutes at the booth before they move on. America's Anniversary Garden is the theme this year.
The Gardening Crops displays have decreased over the years and they are encouraging participation in exhibiting your gardening best vegetables. Deadline to submit entry forms is September 8th at www.statefair.com.
Volunteers who work the booths only get free tickets for themselves, not their spouses and children. Notice about the State Fair volunteer opportunity will go in the newsletter.
Fundraising Committee - Cheri Haggerty, Chair
The Fund Raising Committee still has 68 garden flags with the VCE logo to sell before we can start something else.
Cheri is looking for a new chairman for the Fundraising Committee.
Educational Endowment Fund - Paul Campbell, Chair
Diane Relf Educational Endowment Scholarship Fund selection committee members for 2006 were: Jane Wyman (Prince William), Chuck Norrington (Rockbridge), Pinky Derieux (Chesapeake), Jean Bainbridge (Halifax) and Jenny Oyler (Franklin) as alternate and Paul Campbell (Virginia Beach), chairperson. All members have previously received the Master Gardener College scholarship in past years.
Donations:
In addition to $400.00 provided in the budget, donations were received from the
following groups or individuals for the Dianne Relf Educational Endowment
Scholarship Fund:
Creola Loyd, Betsy Klein, Chuck Miller, Jean McCleerey, Dale Firestone, and
Rita Costello. The Virginia Beach Master Gardener Association in memory of
Leonard Kaplan and Gretchen Fisher in memory of Bill Atkinson.
Applications: There were 19 applications submitted by Extension Agents/Coordinators representing fourteen (14) Units throughout the State. Thirteen (13) applications were submitted as members of VMGA and six (6) were non-members.
Selections: The following individuals were selected for receipt of the 2006 Master Gardener College scholarships. Each individual was presented with a check for $100.
SELECTEES UNIT EXT/COORDINATOR
Fran Gregory Northern Shenandoah Carolyn Wilson
Ed Hazelwood Hanover Colleen Calderwood
Frank Reilly Prince William Paige Thacker
Don Snipes Norfolk Lynette Swanson
George Graine Fairfax Adria Bordas
Mary Ann Kincaid Virginia Beach Susan French
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 continued to reach out to units through Dave Close and Carol Dixon. Kathryn Debnar has coordinated speaking engagements to the units. If you would like a committee member to come speak to your unit contact Kathryn.
· The "$50 for 5" pledge campaign has been fairly active but we need to get the word out. That's the reason for the really "cool" pins which have resulted in more than a half dozen pledges of at least $250 or more this week.
· We have compiled a huge list of foundations and corporations from which we can solicit funds or outright grants.
Pat recognized George Graine (Fairfax) who presented their second check for $400 to the MG Coordinator Endowment.
Totals from tonight's Silent Auction will be available tomorrow morning. The Endowment Fund now stands at $204, 265.10.
Nominations and Elections - Jim Scibek, Chair
Members: Paul Campbell, Jackie Lohr, Karen Sacasky, Pat Reilly, Chuck Norrington, Shelby Snider, Don Saunders and Jim Scibek as Chairman. All meetings were done by email. Five hundred twenty-five ballots were mailed January 24th requesting return no later than February 6th. Ballots returned were 254. Results - President, Cheri Haggerty; Vice President, Betty Villers; Secretary, Angela Cingale; and Treasurer, Ted Jenks. Motion made and carried to destroy the ballots.
Extension Liaison Report - David Close, MG State Coordinator
· 230 people registered as participants at MG College. Still looking for goal of 300, maybe next year.
· Has visited 30 out of the 53 units. If he has not visited your unit, have your association president, agent or unit leader contact him to set up a visit.
· Thanks to Patty Gamache for the tremendous job she did putting the goody bags together.
· Thanks also to Pat Reilly who took on the Silent Auction this year and did a great job. Looking for someone to head it up next year. We have great structure in place and can provide information on how to do it and how many people are needed.
· Many people have come up in the last couple of days and outside housing issues have given positive comments on how things have gone this year. Have a tremendous team that has been working together for two years, the MG College Advisory team. Thanks.
· Thanks to the New River Valley MG group for their tremendous support this year. Remember to tell them thank you, they have been a very gracious host and a tremendous help.
Unfinished Business
Brag Board Awards - Brag Board Awards were started several years ago with Sarah Lineberger, then state MG Coordinator. It was decided to come up with a trophy for the unit with the best brag board acknowledging the SLMs. The unit keeps the trophy for one year and brings it back to MG College the next year to be passed on or to win again.
Winners this year:
SLM 1 Environmental Stewardship Northern Neck
SLM 2 Youth in Horticulture York County
SLM 3 Economic Value of Landscape Loudoun County
SLM 4 Food Nutrition and Food Security Chesapeake
SLM 5 Horticulture Therapy Prince William
Overall
Winner
Northern Neck
The overall winner is illegible to be submitted to the National Search for
Excellence Program.
New officers - Bill McCaleb passed the "bell" on to Cheri Haggerty the new president. The new officers were recognized, all were present except for Angela Cingale, Secretary.
Raffle winner - Bill's last duty as president was to select the winning raffle ticket for the three- leaf, hypertufu water feature with plants. Winner was Peggy Fox from Newport News. The $250 that was raised will go toward the Endowment.
New Business
There was no new business.
Announcements
Next Board Meeting –
Saturday, August 12, 2006 at 10:00 a.m. in Gloucester
October 14, in Abingdon (Washington County)
December 9, York County
The meeting was adjourned at 8:20 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Betty Villers
VMGA Secretary
June 17, 2006
VMGA Board of Directors
Subject: FY 2006 Annual Audit Report
The FY 2006 Annual Audit Committee consisting of Bill Scott, Chair, Jim Scibek and Ted Jenks met on Saturday June 17, 2006 and reviewed documentation for all of the VMGA cash accounts. These accounts include the checking account, money market account and the certificate of deposit. All accounts are maintained at 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 June 1, 2005 to May 31, 2006 as reflected in the Treasurer's Report.
Respectfully submitted,
Bill Scott, Chair
Jim Scibek
Ted Jenks
VMGA, Inc.
June 1, 2006 to May31, 2007
VMGA, Inc
Proposed FY07 Budget
June 1, 2006 to May 31, 2007
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Income: |
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Amount |
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Membership |
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Regular |
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$4,000 |
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Lifetime |
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920 |
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Education |
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2,400 |
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Fundraising |
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4,000 |
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Total Income: |
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$11,320 |
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Expenses: |
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Communication/Support |
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$450 |
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Education |
|
2,400 |
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EEF Scholarships |
|
600 |
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Elections |
|
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Endowment |
|
700 |
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Fundraisiing |
|
150 |
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Gifts |
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3,500 |
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Marketing |
|
200 |
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Membership & Roster |
|
1,390 |
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Newsletter |
|
1,500 |
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State Fair |
|
250 |
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Officers Expense |
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President |
|
75 |
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Vice President |
|
25 |
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Secretary |
|
35 |
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Treasurer |
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45 |
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Total Expenses: |
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$11,320 |
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