Women for Family Farms Committee Meets
The Women for Family Farms committee met at 6:35 p.m. on September 19, with the following members present: Ashley Davis, Amy Brandau, Debbie Werner, Karen Warrick, Katie Sharkey, Sam Tewes, Anita Schneidewind and Mark Schneidewind, Farm Bureau manager.
The minutes from the previous meeting were approved as printed. The group discussed their Christmas party in December and selected the menu. Wreaths Across America is December 16, and we are working on ads for raising money in the Farmers Weekly Review and Directions, and Farm Bureau will oversee the semi loads coming into and unloading them and taking wreaths out to the cemetery. Lon from the Sheriff’s Department wants to lead the escort this year, and Quincy, the head of the cemetery, is allowing several semis that are decorated into the cemetery this December as well.
The group then worked on the fall luncheon which is set for the Victorian Ballroom on Wednesday, November 15, and the theme is “Queen for a Day.” The menu is set; they will do a raffle for wreaths; entertainment is Mike and Tracey; and they made speaking assignments and reviewed the program selected colors. They will collect purses (new and used in good condition), and people who bring one will be entered into a drawing for one of 7 prizes. You can bring up to 3 purses and get your name entered 3 times; however you can only win once. They will provide the purses to a shelter for the holidays.
The spring garden program with Nancy was discussed, and they will see if they can get year-round gardening and when to prune/pinch/shape to make the garden look amazing. They will bounce this off Nancy and will set a date with her in early April. At the Farm Bureau annual meeting in January, the women will assist with the raffles again, and they helped select the catering menu tonight at the event. The event will be held on January 27, 2024, at the atrium, and theme is “Game Night 2.0.” They will have to make a few more decorations for the event. Also planned is kids’ bingo, and we will have a magic show for kids and adults.
Amy reported on the golf outing the group helped with, and all went well, but it was a HOT one. Karen reported on Family Fun Night with numbers up and all had a good time. Ashley reported on the Will County Fair, and it was hot earlier in the week, but Friday and Saturday had nice crowds with grandstand events selling out Friday through Sunday. Katie reported on the harvest dinner with a large crowd of 129, and it went well being her first working event for this program. Ashley felt the location went well and enjoyed helping with the program. Amy reported on the retirement party they hosted for Young Farmers, and all went well and the whole hog was very good, with over 100 attending.
Sam reported on Christmas Cuties and will be this year in Farmers Weekly Review and Partners, and we will have the new Christmas pet and farm animal program as well which has 3 donations already. It will also be in the Farmers Weekly Review and Partners. They discussed a travel event to homes. The EMT program will be January 16. They will offer a porch quilts program for 2024 and will get details for the next meeting.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:35 p.m., and the crew then started to make centerpieces for the fall luncheon; however, they ran out of flowers so Mark ordered more and they will come back to finish sometime in October.
The next meeting will be after setting up for the fall luncheon on November 15 at approximately 10 a.m.