BCMGA November Board Highlights
by Nancy Tovar
In an effort to keep you all informed of the latest BCMGA happenings, I will be sending out a monthly email after each board meeting. The last two Board Highlights came via MailChimp. Some members reported that they did not receive them, so I’m sending this issue straight to each member. The Board Highlights can also be found on the BCMGA website blog: www.bentonmg.org/blog. If you haven’t visited the BCMGA website, please do. Rich Taylor has worked hard to put all of our information and needed documents in one place. As an organization, we plan to use our website as our primary communication tool, posting all current and relevant BCMGA information there. You’ll be able to find out what’s new each week by visiting the home page: www.bentonmg.org. You’ll need the password to access the “members resources” pages: bcmga2020.
The formation of a website committee for development and maintenance is in the works. If you are interested in serving on this committee, please contact Rich Taylor: rich851@aol.com
E-News update: We’ve decided to test drive a new schedule for the Extension eNews. It will be published on the first and third Tuesdays of the month, due to holidays and in attempt to de-clutter inboxes. Look for occasional notes in between regular issues with important reminders or action items. BCMGA will fill in the second week with the monthly Board Highlights. You can always find all import information and links on the BCMGA website, including the monthly board meeting minutes. We’ll be sending out reminders and the link to the website each week as we transition. www.bentonmg.org
Lifetime Member Award for 2020. A BIG congratulations to Debbie Wray who was selected to receive the award. This is the highest honor that the association can bestow on a member. Debbie has served on the BCMGA Board for several years, as membership secretary and most recently as President in 2019 and Past President this year. She has accrued over 1250 hours in her decade of service. Thanks for your service, Debbie!
Congrats also go the winners of the Sept/Oct Virtual Garden Tour for Bountiful Harvest photos: Deborah Hobbs and Jesse Garcia. Check out all the wonderful photos: www.bentonmg.org/photo-albums . Be sure to read the informative article by Demo Garden co-chair Deborah Hobbs, “Tomato Favorites and Uses” on the Forum page under the Members tab. Any member can follow, comment on, or add to this page: www.bentonmg.org/forum
Plant Sale Committee received a donation of fruit and ornamental trees. Because these trees would be most happy planted in your garden now in the fall, we will be selling them soon. You will see another post listing the trees with details such as their size and prices (also names) in the Forum. Please click “follow post” to receive updates. www.bentonmg.org/forum
Membership Dues - Your BCMGA dues help support our organization and include you in the BCMGA 2021 Member Directory. (Note--No dues required for our Lifetime Members)
Choose from two ways to pay--by check or by credit card. Sorry, no cash this year.
MAIL YOUR CHECK: $15 for Continuing Master Gardeners / $10 for Associate Members Write your check to BCMGA and mail to:
BCMGA, 5060 SW Philomath Blvd. #197, Corvallis, OR 97333
OR
USE YOUR CREDIT CARD via our BCMGA Square account (includes an additional transaction fee):
If you are a Continuing Master Gardener (Total $15.75) including 2020 trainees who have graduated or are continuing to earn their certification into 2021. Click here to go to a quick and easy payment screen: https://checkout.square.site/merchant/ZK4VK7DP8QGXD/checkout/DT4FWXMLHEMV5DHA5VORTA7B
If you are an Associate Member (Total $10.60) click here to go to a quick and easy payment screen:
https://checkout.square.site/merchant/ZK4VK7DP8QGXD/checkout/TCMSFPUOVKW3RS6YTM5ZEKDG
Thanks for your prompt payment.
Questions? Write to treasurerbcmga@gmail.com, or call/text Marge Alig at 541-760-9615.
The Communications Committee has become a standing Membership Service Committee. Their mission is to facilitate communications within BCMGA and between BCMGA and Extension staff as well as to welcome new BCMGA members and increase retention in the organization. They will address the membership in the near future.
BCMGA now has our own Zoom account. We envision that this will be utilized by committee chairs to hold virtual meetings. There will be a Zoom training class as part of our OSU Extension courses in Feb. and March of 2021. If you would like to become proficient sooner, the Zoom website has many training videos: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/206618765-Zoom-Video-Tutorials Chairs will be able to schedule meeting times via the Zoom website.
The December board meeting has been rescheduled to Dec. 14 at 10:00am. Please email njtovar@gmail.com if you would like to receive the Zoom link for this meeting.
Thanks for all you do!
Keep calm and garden on,
Nancy Tovar, BCMGA President
330-590-0505