August 2016

Our special guest speaker this month will be Glenn Decker of Piping Rock Orchids in New York. Glenn has done a presentation for us before, so if you saw that one, you know you’re in for a treat, and if you missed him last time, now is your chance! Glenn specializes in Paphiopedilums and Phragmipediums, and he grows some amazing orchids.

Be sure to bring all your bloomers to share at the show and tell table…and remember…every plant you bring for show and tell scores you a free raffle ticket! (Same goes for any food you bring to share as well)

November Elections
A reminder that we have a significant turnover in board memebrs coming at our November elections and we need new energy to lead the society forward. With several months before the election in November, we will be making a push for more inclusion and create opportunities for our general membership to become more involved. With that in mind, here are a list of efforts we plan to undertake:

• We have moved the board meetings to occur normally immediately before the regular meeting. our board meetings have always been open to the membership but we’re going to be making a push for more of you to attend and get a sense of what it is like. We’ll be making special note of board meeting times in coming newsletters and we encourage anyone interested in becoming more engaged with WNCOS to attend…no prior experience or particular orchid expertise required!
• We would like to encourage anyone who thinks they may be interested in a more active role to seek out one of the current board members and discuss what roles exist and the experience of being on the board…it really is enjoyable and satisfying.
• We’re planning to push both our board and our annual show planning in the direction of being more inclusive and engaging members in planning our regular meeting events and our show. We want to hear from you if you have any ideas of how to make that happen and any role you would like to play in any WNCOS activity.

In short…We have an amazing society that is one of the best in the country, we as a board are focused on fostering that environment, but we need you, the membership, to let us know what you want…and we want you to help keep this society active, engaging, and enjoyable for all.