This is my last installment as your MCBA President. I’ve truly had a great time in this special leadership position. It is great fun working with all of you and being involved with the vast array of MCBA activities. I would have volunteered to continue, except that my move to the Eastern Shore of Maryland makes it prohibitive to commute back to Wheaton on a regular basis. My term expires at the New Year. I happily, and with great confidence leave your club in great hands.
I sincerely thank all our members who have worked hard to volunteer time and effort toward making another successful year for MCBA.
Allison Abernathy played a pivotal role in helping find monthly speakers and organize our meetings. I think we’ve had a great year of wonderfully informative speakers and meeting topics. This is a hard job and she’s very good. Allison is also resigning her role as the Montgomery County Vice President to the Maryland State Beekeeper Association. Thank you Allison
Jeff Beck organized and chaired our short course this year. He served as club treasurer for several years as well. Organizing the short course is really a job for a professional event planner and Jeff handled it with aplumb. Perhaps he should consider a second career? Thank you, Jeff
Kameha Bell is essential to our club. She smoothly and professionally takes on a variety of functions. Once she volunteers to do something, you don’t have to worry about whether it will get done and whether it will work . She prepared and printed the membership list and roster and organized the volunteers for the Montgomery County Agriculture Fair (an enormous undertaking). She did countless other tasks, too numerous to mention , such as coordinating speaker gifts. She’s just the best. Thank you, Kameha
Mary Chretien has maintained a leadership role in our club for several years, looking after the listserv and helping to update the web site. Her guidance, advice and honesty has been really appreciated. And, she’s just fun to work with! I’ve really treasured her presence. Thank you, Mary
Jim King has excelled as our club treasurer. He’s our “Johnny-on-the-spot” and is available every meeting to register new members, take receipts and issue refund checks. Under his tutelage, we’ve not only maintained a positive bank balance, but we increased our nest egg. I’ve really appreciate Jim’s positive and “can-do” attitude. Thank you, Jim
Tim McMahon, our President Elect, re-entered a club leadership role last year. While looking after the Brookside Nature Center Observation Hive, Tim has progressively taken on more leadership roles within the club. Due to travel schedules, I wasn’t able to attend a couple meetings last year but felt confident leaving everything in Tim’s care. He also accepted the responsibility of taking on the October Harvest Festival and the Apple Festival. Tim is an experienced beekeeper and engaged in more of the scientific research than I’ve followed. I’m very glad that he accepted the President’s role for next year and am happy to know that the entire club will work with and supports him. Thank you, Tim
Dave Povtak gladly took on one of the hardest club roles, which is providing refreshments at all the meetings. This may sound simple and trivial, but it’s not. The job is all about consistency. You have to remember to shop and prepare for each meeting, unlike most of us who just show up. It’s a thankless job whose only reward is to watch the food and drinks disappear (I’m more of a pretzel and peanut guy than a fresh fruit guy – but that’ me). Thank you, Dave
And a special shout out and deepest gratitude to Extractor Czar David Jerome; Honey Pot Editor Frank Powers and now Dara Ballow-Giffen; Web Master Cris Ianculescu; Holiday Party (2012 and 2013) Amanda Sellers; MC Agriculture Fair liaison Jim Fraser; MC Zoning Committee lead Marc Hoffman; all who volunteers at the County Fair; all who gave honeybee presentations throughout the county; all those whose services I forgot to recognize.
2013 has been a busy and successful year for MCBA. Here is a sampling of what we’ve accomplished.
2013 Annual Activity Report for the Montgomery County Beekeepers Association, Inc
1. Monthly meetings
January – Honey Tasting from club members
February – Queen Management and Evaluation with Marc Hoffman, Jim Fraser and BeeGeorge
March – Joint meeting with short course, Barry Thompson on bee stings.
April – Dr Huoqing Zheng and Dr. Shaokang Huang, on beekeeping in China
May – David Jerome demonstrated honey extraction with our club equipment
June – Charlie Brandt with some fun stories on the White House bees
July – David Bernard on how to prepare entries for the County Fair
August – No Meeting due to the County Fair
September – Panel discussion on what was learned at EAS
October – Dr. Sam Droege, USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, on Native Bees
November – Annual Meeting and open forum discussion
December – Annual Holiday Party
2. 501c3
We received 501c3 approval from the IRS making the Montgomery County Beekeepers Association Inc., a tax exempt organization.
3. Honey Pot Newsletter
MCBA, Inc. wrote and edited monthly newsletter.
4. Annual Holiday Party
We held our holiday party at the Holiday Park Senior Center on December 12, the 2012 event was a great success. We’re looking for even more fun to be had in 2013.
5. Short Course
MCBA, Inc. hosted and taught our short course for new beekeepers. Over 80 new beekeepers participated!
6. Montgomery County Zoning Rewrite
Our members attended and participated in many many meetings and forums representing beekeeping in the county and ensuring that beekeeping continues and is encouraged throughout the county. We testified in front of the Montgomery County Council.
7. Mead Making Class
A select few MCBA members where taught the science and art from our Yancy Bodenstein. They were then allowed to start a small batch of their own design that was sampled later in the year.
8. Hats, t-shirts and coffee mugs
Café Press continues to offer items with our MCBA logo items for sale. Sales benefit the club.
http://www.cafepress.com/mcba and http://www.cafepress.com/MCBAMascot
9. Observation Hive Loaners
MCBA purchased a deep and a medium frame observation hive for our membership. MCBA members can borrow the observation hives for use in presentation, fairs and other events. This will work similarly to the club extractors.
10. Club Extractors
MCBA has extracting equipment to loan to our club members.
11. Montgomery County Agriculture Fair
We sponsored and operated the Beekeeping and Honey Sales areas. Educated the public and sold club members’ honey. We staffed the honey sales booth, hive demonstration gazebo and educational observation hive and displays. Thousands of people stopped by to find the queen, taste and buy honey and learn more about honeybees.
12. Brookside Nature Center Observation Hive
We stock and maintain the Brookside Nature Center Observation Hive.
13. Close Encounters with Agriculture
MCBA provides honey straws for thousands of school children learning about Agriculture
14. Beekeeping ListServe
We run and maintain the Montgomery County Beekeeping listserve and email list. This provides a forum for our members to ask questions, post news and articles, and talk bees. We have over 500 participants.
15. Web Site
We updated (and are still updating) the MCBA web site at http://montgomerycountybeekeepers.com
16. Membership List
MCBA, Inc. published a listing of our member’s names and addresses enabling membership to find and communicate with other beekeepers in their neighborhood.
17. Brookside Nature Center Harvest and Apple Festivals
We participated at the Brookside Nature Center’s Harvest and Apple Festivals, providing the public with information about honeybees and selling some club honey.
18. A bunch of other stuff that I can’t remember at the moment
George Meyer
President