Happy Spring! Linn Benton members gathered at the Adair Officer’s Club and had a fun social on Tuesday, February 7th. The evening included door prizes, social bingo, distribution of baskets to fill for auction, great food and short presentations about what there is to do in our organization. There were 43 members and guests in attendance. Cherie Taylor, 2016 SAI Graduate and lead instructor at the Urban Farm Program in Corvallis was our speaker.
State Convention, hosted by Marion Clackamas, was awesome and we had 14 members attend and enjoy the Oregon Gardens. The tours and the speakers were excellent! Thank you!
Our March meeting was hosted by Mary Hood at her North Albany home. Mary’s whole family worked together to make us feel welcome and very well fed! Our chapter donation for the auction will be a Seafood Dinner for 10 to be delivered to the buyer’s home and a separate item of Scentsy Products. Individual members submitted their donation forms as well.
The chapter is finishing an OWA Commodity Quilt that was discovered mostly done. The final eight quilt blocks were distributed and will be gathered back at the May meeting to be assembled. Arlene Kovash was a key person in the original quilt project!
The chapter voted to participate in both our county fairs, support a letter of support in the Benton County Voter’s Pamphlet for funding of Benton County Extension. We also voted to give money to assist Cailey Fraser, an agriculture major at OSU, in her quest to become Miss Oregon.
Members, Laurie Schrock and Dona Coon, put together a lunch at the Shedd Fire Hall for the Urban Farm Students during their tour of Boston Mill and Oak Park Farm Windmills. LB donated supplies for the students to prepare soups and process their vegetables from their school garden.
Shireen Malpass was presented with her LEAVEN award at our March meeting as she was unable to attend the state convention. Congratulations Shireen! You are very dear to us.
Scholarship Applications were distributed and discussed. Shelly Boshart Davis is chair and has updated the information on our website. These are due April 15th. Sigma Alpha reported on their Professional Women in Agriculture Symposium that they hosted at the Memorial Union on April 3rd. Their fundraiser Spaghetti Feed to promote AITC will be held May 20th.
Points for Profit held their awards event on March 21st and Linn Benton was awarded second place which equates to $2,000 to use for educational projects during 2017. Woo Hoo! A big thank you goes to Kristi Miller and Chris McDowell who wade through all those receipts each month.
Our April meeting will be held at Sue Kalina’s home and we will see you at Auction!!
Dona Coon, Linn-Benton President