Niagara Trip Highlights--Day 1

Twenty-nine Extension retirees and friends met the bus on Oct. 2nd at various locations for the six day trip to Niagara Falls. After lunch at Cracker Barrel in Plainfield, IN, the first stop was Warm Glow Candle Store in Centerville, IN.





This is an 11,000 square foot shopping experience filled with more candles than one can imagine. It has the largest candle in the world outside the store! The inside was beautifully decorated for Christmas, but it was still Fall outside.




         
And--with all those candles of every size and scent one can imagine, Joe Harrison and our bus driver, Bill, found something more interesting to look at!





                                     
Our evening meal featured an Irish Theme at the Sunny Street Cafe in Dublin, OH. We enjoyed Irish music while we ate.

Then a group of excellent young Irish Dancers entertained us. You will note that they have different dresses on. Each one has earned the right to wear a certain type of garment depending on their dance achievements.

It was a good start to a great trip. More details to come soon.

Member Update

Michelle Pride told us at the Summer Reunion that she and her husband had recently spent two weeks in Hawaii! They were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary. She also likes to go snorkeling.

They still live very near a golf course, and spend quite a lot of time there. She also enjoys making dresses for her two-year-old granddaughter.

Michelle is a substitute teacher for Pana schools, and belongs to a Philanthropic Education Organization. This is a group that celebrates, educates, and motivates women to advance and achieve. Scholarships and other incentives are provided.

She is also using her past experience with Extension to help with small town development on the Community Economic Development Steering Committee for Pana. Keep up the good work, Michelle!

Southern Region's Day at the Lake

Southern Region IEAFCS retirees--and some spouses--traveled to Kathy and Joe Harrison's cabin on Kentucky Lake for a fun day in early June.

Highlights of the day were a great lunch and a pontoon boat ride. All the food was great, and Joe outdid himself with the barbecue!



Here is a photo of the view Joe and Kathy have  from their cabin. They can just take a short walk to the waterfront anytime they want!

Those who enjoyed the day were Joy Richey, Martha Speir, Janet Burnett, Ruby Lingle, Joyce Pyatt, Milly Kaiser, Lois Smith, Carol Schlitt, Patti Faughn, Rusti Grogan, and Kathy Harrison.

Rick Lingle, Paul Pyatt, Jimmy Smith, Michael Faughn, and Joe Harrison were also there.

Thanks to Kathy and Joe for their wonderful hospitality--and to Milly Kaiser for assisting them.

As the saying goes, "It's good to have friends in nice places to visit."    

Member Update

Here are a few bits of information from the Summer Reunion shared by Cheri Burcham and Chelsey Byers-Gerstenecker. We really do appreciate their willingness to take time to bring us an update from Extension.

IEAFCS now has 30 members which is a good improvement from a few years ago when almost all current members left Extension. There are 6 Family Life Educators, 3 for Consumer & Family Economics, 10 in Nutrition & Wellness, and 19 who are SNAP ED and EFNEP. More are needed if funding issues can be re-solved.

The reason for the larger number in SNAP ED and EFNEP is that Federal money has been relatively strong in recent years. There is 4.5 million set aside for school nutrition programs.

We are always happy to see Marjorie LaFont and learn that she is still very busy! She is leader of a 4-H club that has 50 members--including her grand kids.  She is still carrying on the good work of Extension.

Marjorie also spends a lot of time helping out the Midwest Food Bank in Peoria. She helps in development of recipes for various food products--especially the unusual ones. She mentioned trying to figure out ways to use sauerkraut juice, textured vegetable protein, and couscous. These would be a challenge for sure! The Midwest Food Bank serves 244 area food pantries. They receive about 2,000 pounds of food per month! Keep up the good work, Marjorie!

Special Guests!

We were honored to have three former National Presidents for NEAFCS at our Summer Reunion last week.

Pictured are Carollyn Hunt, Carol Schlitt, and Carmen Walgrave. I do not remember when Carollyn and Carmen served their terms, but I believe Carol's was in 2007. Hope that's correct!

This is just another example of the outstanding leadership in Illinois (both past and present) for Family and Consumer Science programming!

IEAFCS Summer Reunion

IEAFCS Summer Reunion was held this past week in Springfield with 19 retirees and two active members in attendance. I believe this was the 7th annual statewide get together.

Those who enjoyed a good day of visiting and catching up on all the news were Barb Farner, Bev Combs, Mary Ann Fugate, Pat Hildebrand, Carollyn Hunt, Janet Burnett, Marjorie LaFont, Deb McClellan, Michelle Pride, Carol Schlitt, Carmen Walgrave, Ruby Lingle, Cheryl Hodges, Deb Pflasterer, Patti Faughn, Rosie Bradley, Joy Richey, Lois Smith, and Charlotte Crawford. Cheri Burcham and Chelsey Byers-Gerstnecker also came to update us on current events with U of I Extension.

The 2017 date is Friday, August 4th. Mark your calendar now!

Don't Miss the Summer Reunion!

We hope you are saving the date of July 28th for our Summer Reunion in Springfield. It will be at the American Harvest Eatery, 3241 Iles Avenue from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Phone number is 217-546-8300.

Please notify Jananne Finck at j.finck@comcast.net by July 20th if you will be able to join us. If you will not be able to attend, please still send Jananne a note sharing items of interest about your recent activities. We will have a retiree share session and also get an update about what is happening in Extension from IEAFCS past president, Chelsey Byers-Gerstnecker.

Everyone will order from the menu and pay for our own lunch. 

Hope to see you there!