I'd like to report that we have completed another successful Beginning Beekeeping Class. For our 2024 class, we had 45 registered attendees. This was within our desired number of attendees. Too few and we would have questioned whether it was a viable service for the community, while too many would have been unmanageable.
The annual class is made possible by the NC Cooperative Extension as well as our member volunteers. Not going into details, but at least one took time off from their regular job to help, and others who sacrificed time with family to be at our bee class.
Preparation and work begin about two to three months before the class.
First off, we'd like to recognize our hard-working Extension Agents and their staff who make sure we have an outstanding place to have our monthly meetings. The facility was ours for the day (February 24th) for our bee class as we made use of the kitchen and the auditorium.
The personnel at the Ag. Center are:
- Director: Bryant Spivey – responsible for allowing us to use the facilities.
- Extension Agent Seth Balance – agent specializing in honey bees and other commercial horticulture
- County Support Specialist Jennifer Parson – she quickly printed all our handout materials – even with last minute changes.
- Event Coordinator and Program Technician Carissa Wages –who made sure we had everything for the auditorium from computer and files as well as backups in case of unexpected failures.
Our club volunteers wore many hats to make the event a success. The volunteers did multiple duties before, during, and after the event. From setting up table & chairs, making sure there were snacks, drinks and lunch, checking people in for the class, performing the presentations, designing their slide shows, doing all the technical work to allow people to register online and always keeping our website running, cleaning up afterwards, and overall coordinating the event. Here is a list of our club volunteers who contributed greatly to its success.
- Adam Pendergrass
- Carrie Kaminski
- Conroy Harrison
- Daniel Blackburn
- Donna Wrobleski
- Hannah Overfelt
- Jason Burt
- May Markoff
- Len Kaminski
- Minthie Harrison
- Nathan Adams
- Rick Ivey
- Ron Lassiter
- Terri Richards
In closing, I urge everyone to consider volunteering for at least one position/task during the year. Once you do one, you may decide you have time to help more. We need volunteers to keep our club vibrant and alive. If you want to volunteer, please see any of our board members.
Thanks,
John Converse & Al Hildreth
2024 Co-presidents JCBA