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Board Members Present
Mark Stallings, Don Davis, Dianne Smith, Jerry Smith, Jim Hill,
Carolyn Hill
Board Members Absent
David Keehn, Tom Pachinger, Jack Johnston
Members Present
Joe Kilpatrick
Newsletter concerns
With increasing membership and the manual labor
required for the newsletter, it was discussed to limit the number of
issues to 2 per year (spring and fall) to call the membership to the
bi-annual meetings. Carolyn Hill brought up the idea of sending a
bulleted postcard in mid-summer to inform the membership of project
progress, ideas under consideration, and general information. Anyone
needing assistance on a project would be listed with telephone/email
contact information therefore eliminating color printing, folding and
stapling.
Mark also mentioned that he could possibly get
his school’s journalism students to take on the project of producing
our newsletter as a class activity. Mark will approach the
Journalism Teacher about this. David would thus be freed for the
important job of tree identification and Vice-presidential duties.
Contact
Mark agreed to have his name, email and cell
phone number published for the public to contact for information.
Jerry and Dianne will remain contacts for membership applications.
Carolyn will contact Dale at TACF to have the contact information
changed on the TACF website.
Joe Kilpatrick of The Blueberry Farm requested
a brochure for joining the GaTACF for those who come to pick
blueberries and view the chestnut demonstration planting area.
Rather than printing our own Chapter brochure, Carolyn will print Ga.
Chapter information card to attach to the TACF brochure.
For activities that require immediate response,
we will email all members (and calling those without email) asking if
they are interested in participating and/or watching pollination
efforts this year. Of those who say yes, we will keep them informed
of status frequently. Carolyn will send out this initial email to
all members.
Next Bi-Annual Meeting
It was decided that, since the theme of the
meeting would be “Celebration of Georgia Nuts”, November 5th
would give us time to gather the nuts for distribution and give a
cause to get more publicity for the meeting. Mark will attempt to
get Jimmy Carter, Zell Miller or radio personality Ludlow Porch to
attend our meeting. Mark will contact Ellijay Telephone Company
Pavilion for our meeting location since it is a covered pavilion with
kitchen facilities and a stage.
The agenda:
Celebration of first nuts
Recap of summer activities and status of Mother Trees
Upcoming events
Discussion and search for nomination committee members
It was
suggested that the chapter provide meat and drinks and attending
members provide a side dish in order to cut down on expense and time
involved for a limited number of members.
Fund Raising
Jerry suggested we have door prizes and Don
Davis stated that the National Foundation should give us Chestnut
items on consignment and at a deep discount for a silent auction.
Joe Kilpatrick volunteered to solicit garden supply companies for
donations that would be appropriate as well.
Julian Whitaker volunteered to carve a Windsor
chair from American chestnut wood and donate that for a raffle. Don
and Mark will see about getting the wood for Julian. Raffle tickets
for the chair would be available as soon as it is completed and
continue through the fall.
Publicity
In order to grow by 300 members, more publicity
must be sent out. All future activities will be sent to Carl
Seabrook at the AJC to be included in the calendar of things to do.
Mark will obtain the listing of all radio/cable station activity
calendars so they can be notified as well. Mark will also complete
writing his article about the Chestnut history and include
information about the November Membership meeting.
Carolyn will make up a template for Chapter
stationery and Mark will have 1000 sheets and envelopes printed.
Mark plans to write every new and renewal member.
Orchards
Don mentioned that, in order to
fulfill our breeding contract with TACF, we must have orchards
approved and the owner must sign a Germ Plasma Agreement. Currently
the only orchard approved and ready to go is The Blueberry Farm.
Carolyn will get a copy of the agreement from TACF and email it to
Joe Kirkpatrick for signature and mailing back to TACF.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:35 pm
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