North Central District

Merced Chapter Report - March 2010

The last two months have been a prepping time for Merced’s annual Spring Luncheon. Maria Azevedo, our 1st Vice President, has been busy with her committee preparing for another great event that will occur on March 16.

Our February meeting was hosted at the home of Janice Costa. We had a nice potluck dinner and caught up on CWA business.

Upcoming for our chapter is the Merced County Fair which will happen one month earlier than usual with the changes at the state level. We are looking forward to getting our booth started and focused on the theme, “Wetlands, Water and Wildlife”.

Stanislaus CWA:

We had our Annual Membership Brunch on February 27th. Our guest speaker was Mike Kavarian, Supervising Engineering Technician at Turlock Irrigation District. He gave a presentation about the history of the District and the source of irrigation water it provides. Thank-you to everyone who attended and helped to put on this event. Pam Shaw was responsible for our booth at Yosemite Farm Credit Annual Stockholder Meeting held March 2nd . This gave us an opportunity for CWA to be visible to the community. A few of our members are planning to attend Ag Day at the Capital on March 23rd. Thanks to our new chapter secretary, Victoria Ortiz, Stanislaus CWA now has our own web site: www.cwastanislaus.webs.com. We also have a Facebook page: Stanislaus CWA, thank-you to our new Treasurer, Angelique Perez. One of our goals as a chapter this year is to keep our members informed of activities going on at our chapter and the state level so they can be more involved.

Merced Chapter Report - January 2010

What a nice, quiet end of the year we had. We held our November monthly meeting at DeAngelo’s in Merced and we had a great turnout. There was a lot of discussion over upcoming items and we welcomed some new members.
In December the Ladies of Le Grand hosted our annual Christmas Social. There was a nice group of ladies who attended, and, again, we had some new members come to our meeting. We were also serenaded by carolers – some of who are our members.
We are looking forward to an exciting 2010. We have a couple of hot items that we need to focus on and we will be anxious to share as these items move to fruition.

Merced Chapter Report - July 2009

The summer started off with a fabulous meeting at the home of Peter and Rochelle Koch where we celebrated Eleanor Lema’s 80th birthday. Eleanor has been an integral part of CWA for a number of years and we were excited to celebrate with her as well as enjoy each other’s company at a beautiful location.

The chapter has been very busy this month setting up for our annual fair booth. This year’s theme is bees so we were very excited to set up our “Queen Bee Café” thanks to the hard work of our 2nd Vice President, Stephanie Marchini. The booth is on display this week at the Merced County Fair Grounds. Other hard workers included Vicki Bandoni, Kim Rogina, Eleanor Lema, Wendy Bright, and Karen Bandoni.

One event we are looking forward to is our September meeting which will be hosted at UC Merced. We are proud of the campus in the fact that they have recently opened an early care center on campus that has an agriculture focus. We will be touring the facility as well as conducting our meeting on site. We look forward to this meeting and thank UC Merced for hosting.

 

NORTH CENTRAL DISTRICT REPORT – July 2009

Stanislaus Chapter
The Stanislaus Chapter just completed our summer fundraiser, June Mixer. It was the most successful to date. It was a beautiful evening filled with scrumptious food, elegant wine, peaceful music and agricultural supporters. The silent auction and 50/50 raffle brought in much money. It was well attended with over 100 guests. Thank you to all those that supported!

Our next adventure will be the petting zoo at the Stanislaus County Fair. We are in need of volunteers to work the area for
an hour at a time. Please contact Rosie Silva if you are interested.

September 16 is our next meeting where we will adventure on another tour that Theresa Becchetti will be coordinating. This is an opportune time to learn about the lush agriculture in our very backyard.

We are looking for officers for the 2010-2011 year. Offices that will be available are President and 1st Vice-President. If you
are interested in running for either of these offices, contact Rosie Silva.

See you at the July SWM!
Respectfully Submitted,
Kara Backman
Co-President, Stanislaus chapter
Merced Chapter
No report submitted – busy gearing up for Merced County Fair
San Joaquin Chapter
No report submitted – busy planning November SWM

NORTH CENTRAL DISTRICT REPORT – March 2009

Stanislaus Chapter

Happy 2009 Stanislaus Chapter CWA Women!

Our chapter is excited to welcome you all to the 2009 CWA year. Our executive board has set some high goals and expectations. We hope that we meet your needs of running an organization that joins a united voice for agriculture. Membership, visibility and chapter access encompass’ our 2009 chapter goals. With these in mind we are currently looking into selling our bags at the local farm markets as well as launching our website. Additionally, we have added a cornucopia option to our existing membership form with a $50 price tag. Thank you to all that have turned in your membership dues.

The state board has done a great job of organizing educational tours and shopping opportunities at the state-wide meetings. The May event is one that all of your attendance is much needed. It is the lobbying meeting at the capitol which gives us a chance to voice our agricultural concerns.

If you are interested in attending any of our upcoming events we have included our chapter calendar. Our chapter tours are a must as well as the June Mixer and Holiday social! Our April activities include Ag Day Hospitality rooms in Oakdale and a ranch/farm tour on April 15.

Please feel free to share ideas/concerns/ag related issues with a board member. We promise to respond in a timely manner. Thank you for being a part of CWA and representing what it stands for!

Happy Spring!
Kara Backman
Chapter Co-President

Merced Chapter

The Merced Chapter has had a busy month. We are preparing for our annual Spring Luncheon on March 17th to be held at the Merced County Fairgrounds. Every year we have an exciting speaker, great vendors and wonderful salads. This year’s speaker is Maile Shanahan Geis who is the Executive Director for California Grown. Maile is responsible for the program’s strategic direction, long-term planning and signatory relations. We look forward to hearing from Maile and having another
great event this year.

We held our monthly meeting on February 17th at the Farm Bureau office. There was a potluck dinner, two FFA students who used the meeting as a place to practice their speeches and many decisions were made based on budget issues.

Michelle Symes,
Chapter President

San Joaquin Chapter

We held our annual Table setting at Rosie Togninali’s home in February. Our place setting raffle was a success raising more than $1,300.00 for our scholarship fund!

The Stockton Children’s Museum Ag Display is now in the process of being built and may be ready as soon as April. We are still looking for commodity sponsors so if you know of a company that would like to sponsor a specific area and be branded please contact me for more information.

AgVenture Stockton and Lodi took place in February and March. Each was more attended by more than 2,500 third graders learning all about agriculture. Our chapter volunteers presented and served the volunteers breakfast.
Coming in April, we will have our Spring Luncheon and be participating in the Asparagus Festival. The Asparagus Festival will be April 24th-26th for anyone who would like to come join us! We also have Asparagus Festival apparel for sale. Please
contact Rosie Togninali if you would like to purchase either a sweatshirt or an apron.

Respectfully Submitted,
Monica Bianchi
President, San Joaquin Chapter

NORTH CENTRAL DISTRICT REPORT – January 2009

San Joaquin Chapter
The San Joaquin Chapter rounded out 2008 with elections of our officers whom were installed at our annual Christmas Party and Officer Installation held at the new Robert J. Cabral Ag Center in Stockton. (We can’t wait for you to see it in November!) The Christmas party also “harvested” a truckload of food thanks to all of our member support. The food is donated to the Stockton Emergency Food Bank which distributes food throughout San Joaquin County. A silent auction was also held which raised money for our memorial scholarship.

2009 will bring many exciting events for us beginning with our Table Setting Event at the home of Rosie Togninali. On February 6th there will be a viewing of the tables with champagne and appetizers and on February 7th we will have the luncheon. There will be a raffle for a complete service of eight (including linens and glassware). If you are interested in attending or purchasing raffle tickets, please see a San Joaquin Chapter representative.

We have Green Books for sale for anyone who would like to purchase them as well as CWA logo’d window clings. Please see me to purchase. Happy New Year!!

Respectfully Submitted,
Monica Bianchi, President

Stanislaus Chapter

Ladies in our chapter were busy this holiday season ringing in the New Year with fresh slated officers at the holiday social. The upcoming 2009 year is sure to bring new fun filled activities and hopes of increasing membership. Our Holiday social was held on December 3 at the Samaritan Village in Hughson. While the event was down in attendance, the venue was not. Rosie Silva (Pombo) our 1st vice president thoughtfully planned all details accordingly with the assistance of Theresa Becchetti and Cathy Sanders. Upcoming dates at the local and state levels were discussed, great food and drink were shared and the installation of the new chapter officers took place. The following individuals will hold Stanislaus Chapter office in 2009:

Kara Backman-Co-President
Christie Marriott-Co-President
Rosie Silva-1st Vice-President
Theresa Becchetti-2nd Vice President
Nannette Sanders-Secretary
Cathy Sanders-Treasurer

Our chapter is excited about the apron sales for the upcoming state convention in Chico January 9-11. We plan to have 3-5 members present. Our executive team will be meeting on January 17, 2009 to plan the year’s events and budget. We will also be talking about our infamous brunch held in March at the Ag Center.
Stanislaus CWA wants to wish you all a safe and happy new year!

Merced Chapter

Merced Chapter CWA set a new record of 310 memberships for 2008. This includes Donor Memberships. Membership Chairwoman, Katie Favier, had again done an outstanding job!
Maria and Ray Giampaoli hosted our Chapter Christmas party at their Le Grand home with a potluck dinner for members and spouses. Topping off the evening of great food and friendship was a choral presentation by an area chorus; and the lovely

rendition of Ava maria by Eric Bock.
The 2009 Chapter Officers will be installed on January 20th, at Fernando’s Bistro, Merced. After two very active years, President Benina Burroughs will be turning the gavel over to 2009 President Michelle Symes. Benina was honored in December by the “Young Farmers and Ranchers” as first runner-up as their Outstanding Farmer and Rancher. We are proud of Benina and her accomplishments.

Eleanor Lema, Corresponding Secretary 

North Central District Report
July 2008
Christie Marriott

Stanislaus Chapter:

Our Chapter has been really busy. We have provided hospitality rooms for both Sierra View and Magnolia School Ag Days in Oakdale. As well we were also able to assist Gratton School Ag Day with our famous hospitality. It is exciting to see all the people in agriculture come together to educate our youth and future voters.

Not only did we sponsor a hole at the Stanislaus County Farm Bureau Golf Tournament, but we provided woman power as well.

Our Third Annual June Mixer was held at the Rogers Ranch on June 26th. Even though the fires had the valley filled with smoke, our turn out was wonderful. We were able to honor our scholarship recipients and enjoy a demonstration and tasting by local Chef Kevin VanderBes, who is opening “Relish” in Shoppers Eden in Turlock. This popular event also includes a raffle with a grand prize of a $500 shopping spree gift card and a silent auction.

The Stanislaus County Fair opens on July 25th for its 10 day run, at which time our chapter assists with the Stanislaus County 4-H Clubs Farmyard Experience. This is an educational as well as interactive exhibit. It is wonderful to interact with both the children and parents.

San Joaquin Chapter:

We made a record amount working Asparagus Alley this year at the 23rd annual Stockton Asparagus Festival that took place in the last weekend of April. Our chapter (wo) manned a booth selling festival aprons and sweatshirts. Many members worked in Asparagus Alley preparing and serving Asparagus Tri-tip sandwiches and Aspara-rittos (Asparagus burritos). The Stockton Asparagus Festival is run entirely by volunteers from various San Joaquin County non-profit organizations. All of the proceeds totaling $461,912 are divided up among the groups at $15.95 per volunteer hour.

Our scholarship applications are in and they will be presented to the recipients at various ceremonies this month. We will hold our annual Scholarship BBQ on July 15th with all of our recipients and their families.

We are presently holding a monthly recipe contest with the winner receiving a CWA shopping bag. The recipes are based on a commodity of the month, encouraging cooking with what’s in season.

We are working with the local children’s museum in helping them to create an interactive Ag element for the kids to learn and play!

Respectfully Submitted,
Monica Bianchi
President, San Joaquin Chapter

Merced Chapter:

Our chapter held a great family potluck social event in June at the home of Chapter President Benina Burroughs. We enjoyed not only all the delicious food and fellowship; but the relaxing outdoor setting on top of the hill overlooking the Burroughs’ family farming acreage.

Chapter members are now gearing up for the 35th Agricultural District Merced Fair beginning July 15th. Our booth, under the direction of Maria Azevedo, will highlight sheep and wool in line with the Fair theme of “Rocking with the Flock”.

Merced Chapter has awarded scholarships to 17 students for a total of $5,000. Scholarships are awarded in three categories: Children and Grandchildren of Chapter CWA Members with seven awarded at $300 each; Children of Farm Employees with eight awarded at $250 each; and two $500 scholarships awarded to Women Attending a Four Year College in the Field of Agriculture Studies.