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Co-Presidents' Annual Report
2023
Covid restrictions forced Cloverleaf to continue to present the 2022 AGM virtually on January 18th, 2023. The Leadership Team thanks those members that participated. The number of members attending met the required amount to reach quorum, as outlined in Cloverleaf’s Constitution, so that voting could proceed on the various items.
The Leadership Team, Board Members - Ramona da Cunha, JoAnn Drennan, Scott Harvey, Mary Jean (M.J.) Kucerak, Diane Rogers and Sheila Susini, continued their determination to make the Club and it’s Meetings a success. They focused attention to the speaker’s series, for it to be available to as many members, as possible. M.J. was the Zoom Co-Ordinator for all our Club and Board meetings and worked through all the hiccups that occurred. It is still a thorn in our sides, due to some technical issues beyond our control.
Speaker Series Coordinators , Sharman Howes and Martha Kantorczyk , took on this very important task and challenge . Together, they arranged an excellent choice of speakers, that covered both types of presentation formats and the thought-provoking topics as well. The November 15th Workshop, to make your own Christmas centerpiece was well received and attended by 31 Members. They both worked with the Leadership Team to present topics that were important to members and were well attended. The Board looks forward to 2024’s line up they are preparing.
Tammy Lemire, our Website and Mailchimp lead, provided the Mailchimp notices throughout the year. She has continued to sort through various websites to update and add new information, to our website, to promote and help streamline Cloverleaf’s online presence @www.cloverleafgardenclub.org. It is a wealth of information, covering a huge variety of topics, truly living up to our tag line “Growing Knowledge”.
Bonnie Gul, the enduring and multitalented Editor of Cloverleaf Thymes Newsletter, our social media format, has once again continued to issue an excellent monthly newsletter. Always full of interesting articles, skillfully arranged, along with member contributions, which are always needed and those delightful monthly staples; Christine’s Pick of the Month, From the Garden Goddess and Ron Mitchell’s Around the Yard, it is a lighthearted and educational read. Member’s photos highlight our gardening successes.
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At year’s end 2022, our Club had a membership of 131, however, at year end 2023, Cloverleaf’s membership was only 125 which was a drop from previous years. Quietly behind the scenes, Laura Heberle maintains the Club’s ever-changing membership list, keeping track of payments, in the various forms. She works at the Membership registration table during meetings, hands out membership cards and updates us, with her monthly article for the newsletter.
JoAnn Drennan had another successful Plant Sale, held on May 13th @ the Cawthra Senior Center parking lot. It is an immense task to plan, organize and schedule volunteers, to perform all the work required, before, during and after the Event. The weather was perfect, which helped contribute to a socially enjoyable event.
Congratulations to JoAnn Drennan and the energetic and dedicated group of Volunteers, without you, this would not have happened.
This is Cloverleaf’s main source of income and I encourage all members to help in 2024 with plants from your gardens and volunteering your precious time as well.
Oakridge Public School is fortunate to have two very dedicated volunteers, Kimberlay Oly and Frank Cox, for the School’s Junior Program. They continue to provide the children at Oakridge, a hands-on and positive experience in helping plant and nurture the gardens of the school.
We provided financial support plus $ 400.00 worth of donated plant material from Cloverleaf’s spring plant sale to Oakridge Public School and the Junior Program. Kimberlay and Frank have provided articles and photos of their work to Cloverleaf’s newsletter.
Treasurer, Diane Rogers has tracked all the numerous and sometimes complicated issues related to government grants, carryover credits from City of Mississauga and e-transfers. She is also responsible for ensuring the Audit of our Yearend financials is completed and for filing all the required financial reports to OMAFRA/OHA and City of Mississauga. As the Club’s main lead contact with the OHA, she received various directives regarding changes to Bylaws and Financial requirements. These directives and updates require the Club to also update and change it’s Bylaws, so that we are in compliance. It is not an easy task to ensure all the documents are properly recorded and sent to the various agencies.
The Board focused on how the Club could participate in our community and decided to financially support two causes, which the Club has previously supported, The Compass Food Bank and its community vegetable garden and Riverwood Conservancy’s Teen Education program.
Ecosource and GlobalMedic , two groups we funded in 2022 were not funded this year , mostly due to the fact that their projects were not currently ready for funding. We will revisit their proposed projects in 2024.
Diane has provided the Treasurer’s Report for the newsletter, which has further details.
Thank you to all the Members and the Leadership Team for supporting Cloverleaf and hope that we can continue to advance our Club in 2024.
Cheers to 2024, a year to reflect, as we enter Cloverleaf’s 80th Anniversary Year.
Regina “Reggie” Gudelis