DHS Program Night September 18 2019
Minutes by Ellen Gunther and Petra Kruis-Daly
Deb Z welcomed everyone to our Program evening after enjoying a beautiful summer. A special welcome was given to our Junior Gardeners, their families and the leaders. Because this evening is also the 4-H Garden Club’s achievement night, River Ballent lead the 4-H pledge with all the other members.
Updates:
· Deb mentioned that condolences have been made to the Konkle Family with the passing of Mary Konklel. A celebration of life will be this Saturday. See the bulletin board for more information.
· The treasurer’s Report, the sponsor/donor lists and all other events are posted on the back wall. June’s minutes is on the reverse of tonight’s agenda.
· Dates to remember:
– Wed. Sept. 25- Thompson Creek Eco Centre Grand Opening. This event is from 10 am to 2pm with the Ribbon cutting at 11am- Rain or shine. (Thank you to Debbie Thomas and Dan McKay for spearheading this wonderful project)
– Fri. Sept. 27- Fall Forum, hosted by DHS. Everyone is invited to attend. $15.00 per person, which includes lunch. It is our 90th year and so it is extra special that our club is hosting. Registration is at 8:30am for photo contest entries. Morning coffee, tea, water and refreshments will be provided by DHS. The morning program runs from 10 to 1pm. Lunch is be served at 12:30. The guest speaker that day is Kevin Kavanagh, speaking about “The Evolving Garden: selection of native plants for long term success”. The District 9 Presidents Meeting will follow the conclusion of the Fall Forum.
– Sat. Oct. 19 – DHS Clean up Day. Everyone is invited to come out at 8am to help clean the town flower beds. Jeff’s Outdoor (Mike Lessard and son Caleb) will be providing their truck/trailer again for removing the old vegetation.
· Debbie Thomas gave everyone a quick update on the Thompson Creek Eco Center. There will be a School Challenge encouraging all local schools to visit day of Grand Opening.( The School with most signed in students, to be awarded a Carolinian tree planted at their school). A ‘People mover’ will be available for those that can’t walk the 1.5KM Tallgrass Prairie and Wetland complex trail.. Richard Egger will be driving and Roger Eggers Truck and Machine Ltd is providing it. Debbie thanked members and asked everyone to come out and share in the success of this DHS project.
· Thank you to all our 2019 weeders. Thanks to Nelly for organizing them all. Keep up the great work until clean up day. Deb Z asked all weeders to have beds looking nice the day of the Fall Forum when Dist 9 Societies arrive in town.
Announcements:
· Deb spoke about the unveiling of the new Floral Clock Storyboard, this is due to be installed in the next 2 weeks.
· Members are to check their email addresses to ensure DHS has the correct ones. Past members will be removed from the mailing list.
· A suggestion Box is available at the back of the room for all your great ideas.
· The November AGM is only 2 months away. Deb encouraged everyone to consider a role on our Board. Open positions include Vice President and general board seats. This is also our Christmas Potluck evening.
· The Members Only Garden Tour was a big hit. Thank you to the 6 gardens that were open: Marlene Link, Tammy Link, Jacob Kelly, Gloria Hunter, Beth Powell and Ken Sherwood, Petra Kruis-Daly. This was the first time we had a fall garden tour.
· Deb asked for volunteers to bring refreshments for next month’s meeting. Colleen, Marie, Muriel and Clara. Volunteers for refreshments for the Fall Forum: Cindy, Muriel, Ray, Mary, Sharon, Pat H, Kim C and Darlene B.
4-H /Junior Gardeners Fall Flower and Vegetable Show Awards: Thank you to volunteer judges Kathy Huit and Colleen O’Reilly.
· 4-H leaders: Rita Vandervliet & Gwen Schaeffer along with DHS Jr. Gardener chair Debbie Thomas presented the awards:
– Largest Sunflower: 1st: Ben Knelsen, 2nd: Christopher Reynolds, 3rd: Caitlyn Thompson
– Vegetable Critter: 1st: Caitlyn Thompson, 2nd: Morgan Schaeffer, 3rd: Jai-Lyn Bentley
– Pumpkins decorated: 1st: Morgan Schaeffer, 2nd: Matthew Schaeffer, 3rd: Kaitlyn Thompson
– Bird House: 1st: Morgan Schaeffer, 2nd: River, Ballent 3rd: Jai-Lyn Bentley
– Photos: 1st: Olivia Mattice, 2nd: Christopher Reynolds, 3rd: Caitlyn Thompson
· The Judy Jeffrey Award was presented to Ben Knelson. All Jr Gardeners were given a DHS Youth Certificate, along with a voucher donated from A&W for a mama burger combo· Debbie presented both Rita and Gwen with flower bouquets donated by Windecker Woods Flower Farm, for their time and commitment to the DHS/ 4H JR Gardener Program Partnership. They both will be stepping down as will Debbie T. Members were asked to consider volunteering to chair JR Gardeners in 2020
· The OHA- Community Partnership Award was given to DHS at this years AGM for the work done in Centennial Park. This award was accepted recently by Deb Z and Debbie T in Windsor.
Refreshment Break:
Deb welcomed everyone to help themselves to the wonderful refreshments brought in by the 4-H group. Also to purchase tickets from Betty B for the Ways and Means. As well, everyone should check out the flower/vegetable entries by the 4-H’ers
Speaker;
After some technical challenges, Deb and Morgan finally got the slide show set up for Mark Zelinski. Mark is a world renowned photographer. He presented a series of slides of his photo books depicting images from all over the world, but specifically ‘Turtle Island” and the Niagara Escarpment. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the presentation. Mark donated two of his books, the winners were Anna O’Brien and Susan Milligan. Members were encouraged to purchase from a selection of Mark’s books at the back of the room.
Deb wished everyone a wonderful evening and gave the mic to Betty to announce Ways and Means winners.
Meeting adjourned 9:10pm
Tonight’s tallies: Ways and means: $49.25. Kitchen donations: $54.45. Members and guests signed in: 90