VIRGINIA MASTER GARDENER ASSOCIATION, INC.

BI-MONTHLY BOARD MEETING

APRIL 9, 2011

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA

Anita Smith-Newport News

Barbara Geer-Prince George

Betty Villers-VA Beach

Bill Scott-Prince William

Bonnie Bernard-Gloucester

Carolyn Helmetsie-Nelson

Christy Brennan-Hanover

David Mims-Rockbridge Area

Deborah Straw-Hill City, Amherst,

Lynchburg & Campbell

Edna Musser-Louisa

Fran Shelton-VA Beach

George Graine-Fairfax

Gwen Pote-Central Rappahannock

Ira Wallace-Louisa

Janet Scott-Prince William

Jim Kincaid-VA Beach

Jim Scibek-Fauquier

Joan Richards-Green Spring

Joe Kelly-Arlington/Alexandria

Joyce Grunewald-Albemarle/Charlottesville

Larry Burk-Loudoun

Laura Collinsworth-Central Rappahannock

Lynne Foote-Chesterfield

Mary Ann Kincaid-VA Beach

Nelda Purcell-Franklin

Pat Huber-Albemarle/Charlottesville

Pat Waring-Bedford

Pinky Derieux-Chesapeake

Shirley Winn-Prince William

Tina Chaleki-Louisa

Wesley Ford-Central Shenandoah Valley

President Bill Scott called the meeting to order at 10:05am.

Joyce Grunewald, unit representative for Albemarle/Charlottesville, welcomed everyone to

Charlottesville and introduced Dorothy Tompkin, President of the Piedmont Master Gardener

Association. Piedmont Master Gardeners are active in several major projects in the community

including: rose garden at the senior center, an active 4-H program, a re-entry program at the

jail, and a demonstration garden at the Martha Jefferson Hospital.

Officers, committee members and representatives made their introductions.

Peggy Fox, Secretary-Newport News

Not present. Bill Scott asked for any questions, corrections or additions of the February 12

meeting minutes. He indicated there were two corrections to be made:

Treasurer’s Report: Bill requested the report be accepted rather than approved and then

filed for audit.

Newsletter: change the report to reflect that unit reports have been discontinued in the

newsletter but are posted in their entirety on the VMGA website.

Betty Villers, VA Beach, reported those corrections have been completed. The February

minutes were accepted with corrections.

Jim Kincaid-VA Beach

Copies of the treasurer’s report were distributed. The second page needed to reflect a change

to Miscellaneous Receipts. There are no miscellaneous receipts to date, please delete the

figure of $13,821.68 entered there.

A motion was made to accept the report as presented with the correction and filed for audit.

Motion accepted.

Peggy Fox, Newport News, and Dawn Meyerriecks, Hanover

Not present and no report was submitted. Please send all articles for the next newsletter to

Minutes have not been posted to the website for several months. Bill Scott is trying to get more

volunteer help to update the website.

Cheri Haggerty

Not present. Bill Scott read the report that was submitted.

As of April 1, 2011, there are a total of 716 VMGA members. Of these,

558 Active members

7 Auxiliary members

151 Life members

Life members consist of 11 Auxiliary and 140 Active. This is an increase in membership of 64

members since the February 2011 report. Forty four are trainees from Northern Shenandoah

Master Gardener Association. VMGA Education events resulted in the registration of a number

of new members.

There are currently 77 more VMGA members than were reported in April 2010.

Membership renewal time is approaching. There are 397 volunteers whose membership is up

for renewal in May 2011.

Cheri distributed a Lifetime Membership information update survey in March. The last update of

this category was conducted in 2008. Of the 151 update forms mailed electronically and via

USPS, 99 responses have been received.

Members: Pat Reilly-Prince William, Karen Sacasky-Hill City, Pinky Derieux-Chesapeake, and

Frank Reilly-Prince William

The unit support committee kept up a budget issues website page. Two units called with

questions but did not respond to phone messages. Three units inquired about tax-exempt

status and the collection of sales tax; one unit asked about the relative benefits of incorporation.

The committee has placed information about all these items on the Unit Support web page. The

tax collection rules in Virginia changed significantly in December 2010, making it easier to

declare for non-collection of sales tax.

Frank Reilly-Prince William-Chair

Members: Dawn Meyerriecks-Hanover-webmaster, Cheri Haggerty-Hanover, Kathryn Debnar-

Roanoke-calendar page, Shelby Snyder-Roanoke, Tom Bolt- Norfolk, Betty Truax-________,

George Graine-Fairfax,

Since the report for the February scheduled meeting there have been 2,994 unique visitors to

separate occasions.

The most popular pages in the last two months have Calendar, Educational Events, “About

VMGA” and Membership; but more than 68% of our page views come in through the front page.

Membership applications are available online at the Membership page.

MG College Scholarship information is available on the site.

The MG College page is up and a list of presentations to be offered will be available when we

have some speaker data. There are presentations and FAQs about MG College available for

viewing for those who have never attended.

A question from the membership was raised: Has anyone tested the links in the web site to

learn if they are still operable? It seems to be difficult to get to the links page from the home

page. Several other problems with this were also noted.

Bill reminded members that web site maintenance has had problems staying current with

updates. VMGA is actively seeking volunteers to develop a support team. Dawn Meyerriecks

and Frank Reilly will interview interested persons. VMGA does not have the funding to have the

site professionally maintained. We would like to have an article submitted in the VMGA

newsletter to solicit volunteers for updating the web site and to serve on the support team.

A suggestion from a member: Inquire about having a college student or students earn credit for

IT studies while updating the site in a professional manner.

Barbara Geer-Prince George, Betty Jo Hendrix-Western Tidewater

Bill Scott reported he has received notification of resignation from our two co-chairs of the

Education Committee. They both have done a phenomenal job upgrading the Education

Committee and planning regional educational events which have achieved a more complex and

advanced level of training. The programs have been very professional and running like

clockwork due to the commitment of the co-chairs. Both Barbara and Betty Jo would like to

stay active as a part of the committee.

Barbare Geer reported the committee would not have run as smoothly without the help of Ira

Wallace-Louisa County.

Recent EC events include:

February MG Day at VSU. A total of 14 speakers, 2 major theme tracks, 142 registered MGs,

136 attended. We have developed a good rapport with Dean Jewel Hairston of VSU, who

wants to continue our partnership and become more involved.

April 1: Rockfish Valley Community College Fun Day. Presentation on Berries and Brambles.

39 registered. 37 attended. Net profit of $54.79.

Two upcoming programs have been scheduled:

September 24-Harrisonburg.

How MGs Can Play a Role in Food Systems: Supporting a market garden and activities to

utilize local produce. Keynote speaker will be the local Commissioner of Agriculture, Matt Lohr.

More information will be available as the date approaches and plans are confirmed.

October 22.

Nelda Purcell announced an education event will be held at the 4-H camp at Smith Mountain

Lake. The theme will be Good Landscaping Practices for Buffer Zones and Landscaping

Practices to Protect Water Quality. Attendees will be offered overnight accommodations used

by the 4-H camp.

The education committee is always looking for unit projects which can be showcased and also

create a focus for area educational programs. The goals of the committee were to have at least

two to four advanced training programs per year and to build programs and resources to have

available to units.

To avoid scheduling conflicts, the committee has learned it is important for units to inform the

committee of their area training events which occur annually.

Units are encouraged to send a list of speakers and presenters to Kathryn Debnar-Roanoke, in

order to build a resource for all units to use. Mary Ann Kincaid-VA Beach, has volunteered to

write a small article for the newsletter concerning the development of this list.

Bill Scott-Prince William

The new committee is about to become active. This committee is still in need of a chairman and

could use the help of other members. Please let Bill know if you or someone you know is

interested in serving on this committee. The committee will be focusing on a plan that will seek

out all Master Gardener volunteers to assist in getting the endowment fully funded. The hope is

to develop a list of potential corporate sponsors. The current balance of the endowment is

$331,160. This is equal to 30% of the goal of $1,000,000.

The decision of going forward on the proposal of sales of organic fertilizer for the purpose of

raising funds for the endowment was left up to the VMGA executive committee. The main

concerns voiced were the current issue of fertilizer use and the health of the Chesapeake Bay

and the promotion of the product by Master Gardeners. The proposal has been tabled for now.

An idea presented by Bonnie Bernard-Gloucester.

This year her unit added a request to the annual unit membership dues reminder for members

to make a donation to the Coordinator Endowment Fund. She was pleased to present a

donation check in the amount of $1,000 to the endowment from this activity.

Cheri Haggerty-Hanover

Cheri was not present. No report was submitted.

Leslie Paulsen-Prince William.

Leslie was not present. There will be a team of six judges to determine who will be awarded the

six scholarships plus an additional $150 scholarship given anonymously which was requested to

be given to someone with a financial need. The deadline for applications is May 13. Unit

representatives should remind their MG Coordinators and Agents to nominate MGs from their

unit. This year’s judges are: Jack Price-Four County, Jim Kincaid-VA Beach, Margie Bosco-

__________, Tom Bolt-Norfolk, and __________.

Pat Waring-Prince William, Jim Kincaid-VA Beach, Bill Scott-Prince William

All will be meeting during lunch at this meeting and will also be contacting committee chairs

regarding preparation of the 2012 budget.

Deb Straw-Hill City

If you are interested in serving on this committee please contact Deb.

Bill Scott reported that VMGA needs a new chair for this important committee. Bill and Janet

have been filling the role of the VMGA Merchandise Sales Coordinator and must release this

role in May 2011 due to other commitments. We do not want to shut down this important

contributing committee to the State MG Coordinator Endowment Fund. Please contact Bill if

you are interested in chairing or co-chairing this function.

Christy Brennan-Hanover

This year the State Fair will be held September 28 through October 11. Please contact Christy

for more information about your unit volunteering at this event.

Dave Close, VCE

Dr. Edwin Jones arrived on April 1 to begin as our new VCE Director and Associate Dean.

Dave will be meeting with him later this month to discuss the VCE Master Gardener program.

The 2011 version of PMG Home, Grounds and Animals is now available. Individuals may order

copies online. If you wish to place a bulk order, your local Extension office should work through

Sarah McCoy on campus to process this. Copies for Extension MG Hort Help Desks have been

sent out. If your unit has not yet received their copy, they should be in the queue for shipment.

Dave met with the Director for the Institute for Distance and Distributive Learning to discuss

making a portion of the MG training class available online. We will be moving forward with this

as an option and hope to have something available by 2012. This will not be designed to

replace current models of face-to-face training, but an added option for those who wish to

complete a portion of their training online.

Sarah Kelly from the Ag, Human and Natural Resources Information Technology group (AHNRIT)

from our College and Dave conducted a one-day training session in Charlottesville on March

31 for the new Volunteer Management System (VMS). Representatives from eight units who

offered to be pilot locations for testing the system and rolling it out to their volunteers

participated. They still have much work to do in developing training resources, but these eight

units have been given permission to start playing with the system and finding things that need to

be modified before it is rolled out statewide. Dave hopes to have the new system fully

implemented by the end of calendar year 2012. This may be an ambitious timeline, but it is the

target for which we will shoot.

Dave has received emails regarding MG College and details relative to the 2011 conference.

The MG College Advisory Team will meet April 11 in Charlottesville to work toward finalizing

crucial details. Dave hopes to release at least some preliminary information with respect to

keynote speakers and concurrent session topics very soon. He would like to apologize for this

information being even later this year than years past, but will have information out soon.

Please be patient and please encourage your colleagues to block off the week of June 21-26 on

their calendar and join us. Dave assured us, it will be an enjoyable time as always.

Dave was on the road quite a bit this late winter and early spring doing Risk Management

trainings. The training has been done a couple of times remotely using Adobe Connect. He will

be conducting another training session via Adobe Connect next week. If your unit struggles to

have this topic covered, please have your agent or training coordinator contact him. He has

also done a number of presentations to local units on the west side of the state to explain to

new trainees and interns what it means to be a VCE MG volunteer.

Dave has traveled more and presented more in the last three months (Jan-Mar) than the last

year or so combined. It has been good to be out in the local units again to connect with folks at

the personal level. He asks that we not hesitate to ask, but be aware he might not be able to

accept the invitation or may have to negotiate the time you would like him to visit your unit. His

calendar dates between May 1 through June must be protected for MG College planning and

preparation. Outside of May and June he is willing to travel where he is needed when available.

Bonnie Bernard reported the VMS is very user friendly and can do a lot of record keeping for

each unit.

Bill Scott-Prince William

Most items have been previously discussed. David Mims and Barbara Geer are excited about

working with the Dean Jewel Hairston at VSU and strengthening the relationship. Bill thinks this

will be a real asset for Virginia Master Gardeners.

George Graine-Fairfax

George distributed a handout package to promote MG College which he had developed for

Fairfax MGs. Volunteers in his unit who are interested in attending MG College are kept

informed of news and information by regular emails.

Betty Villers-VA Beach

Betty has developed a cover letter and donation form for auction items. To date, three items

have been donated. All units are encouraged to contribute to this fundraiser for the State MG

Coordinator Endowment. Last year’s auction raised over $4,000 for the endowment.

Christy Brennan-Hanover

The entry form to be used for this year’s competition will be posted on the VMGA website.

Feedback from last year’s event indicated a need for more time to set up displays on Thursday

night.

It is hoped all units will participate in the competition this year.

Please contact Christy to request electrical hookup or special lighting for your display.

Please help recruit volunteers for the position of VMGA Merchandise Sales Coordinator.

Next board meeting will be the Annual Board Meeting to be held on Saturday, June 24, at MG

College, Blacksburg, VA.

Meeting adjourned 1:30pm

Minutes recorded by Christy Brennan, VMGA Vice President.

Respectfully submitted:

Peggy Fox

VMGA Secretary