I. Upcoming Events
June 20-23: Table at the United
Methodist Conference at the Sacramento Convention Center during lunch hour,
11:30-1:30.
Saturday August 18: Table at Davis Farmers
Market; signups via Google doc or contact Susan Rumberg.
Wednesday August 22: Laurie Heller
announced the date for the “Statewide Kick-Off” of the 2013 Statewide Charitable
Giving campaign. This is a free event held on the west steps of the Capitol. Campaign
representatives from various state agencies will be there to learn about organizations
that merit contributions made directly from state employee paychecks. Laurie has
made a contact with persons who schedules for this kickoff event. She will have
more info at our August volunteer meeting.
II. Team Heifer – That’s us
John Brewer, Cheryl McKinney, Judy
Grimshaw, and Pat Sayer-Handley met earlier in the month to discuss our group’s
future direction vis-à-vis putting on events. At various times the group has
talked about putting on events which would involve a lot more work in planning
and execution. The group saw little benefit in increasing the size of events,
when there is already a history of success with small events and especially those
involving personal circles. In the end, the group decided that continuing with
small events provide a good key to our future direction, at least for the next
year.
Some ‘personal circles’ events include
family dinners, birthday parties, book club events, alternative gift fairs,
film showings, cookie exchanges, backyard bbq-s, backyard dinners, holiday
caroling, and the famous Haiti event. A quick rough total showed that
those events held over the past 18 months or so have raised approximately $9,000.
This estimate does not include the revenue generated by the sale of products
made by the Nifty Knitters.
The group proposed using the tool of the
“Team Heifer” section at heifer.org>Get
Involved>Team Heifer. This tool is an on-line tracker of funds raised
by our group. The group proposed to set a group goal of $10,000 for the
next year, which all those present agree as entirely reasonable.
III. What works when tabling – Over the course of the
past few months, those who have staffed tables have identified a number of
lessons:
·
The button activity and questions eggs – These are very portable
activities and effective conversation starters.
·
The bee bracelet activities – Kids are eager to participate in
this activity. At the same time the parents stay nearby to talk with us.
·
Brochures for Heifer basics and agroecology, Cornerstones
bookmarks, local postcards, and back issues of the World Ark are relevant and
popular with visitors. For situations where attendees are adverse to collecting
paper, make Quick Response (QR) codes for the Heifer website or the Sac Heifer
blog available.
·
The spinner – This is useful in circumstances where there are a
lot of kids and there is easy access to move this heavy piece of equipment.
·
Circulate – Make sure to circulate among the exhibitors and pass
out Heifer business cards. New contacts and subsequent event invitations have
been generated from doing this.
IV. New posters for tabling
Cheryl McKinney with the able editing
assistance of Laurie Heller, Teresa Fung, and Susan Sundell had some new
posters made up. The first gives the Heifer mission statement. The second
centers around the concept of agroecology, with definition and a few examples.
The third introduces the Heifer USA Seeds of Change program. The posters fit on
our existing large trifold tabletop stand.
V. New blog co-editor
Amy Flindt, our blog and electronic media
guru is off to teach abroad. We will miss her at our meetings, but she will continue
to work on our group blog as a co-blogger. Teresa Fung has volunteered to be the
local co-blogger.
VI. Butte College Heifer activists
Suellen Rowlison brought Chico visitors who
made the long trek to attend our Sacramento meeting. Suellen introduced Suzanne
Morrison and Shar Sentell, both are students at Butte College and now Heifer
activists. Go Butte College!
VII. Tour to Chaffin Family Orchards
Suellen
Rowlison is working on a time to tour the Chaffin Family Orchards and will forward
more information when potential dates have been identified.
VIII. Past events
Our tables at the following events experienced
lots of traffic and they are worth repeating in the future:
·
Sat. May 19 “Walk on
the Wild Side” U.S. Fish & Wildlife Eco Fair
·
Sun. May 20 “Day on the
Farm” Soil Born Farms open house
·
Sat. June 9 “Urban Ag
Fest” Slow Foods Sacramento fund raiser for school gardens. We were invited by
Chef Brenda Ruiz.
Next meeting Monday, August 6, 2012, Campus
Commons Board Room 6:00 pm
NOTE: NO MEETING IN JULY
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