Renae Mitchell
I have just returned from my whirlwind tour of five TPE chapters that I rarely get to visit: Southwest WI, Chippewa Savannas, St. Croix Valley, Prairie Smoke and the Coulee Region. Thanks to everyone who attended the meetings. I now feel I have a much better idea of how things are going out there in your various areas.
I was also able to see some of the galleries where our photography exhibit will be displayed. The beautiful Phipps Arts Center in Hudson, WI has giant windows overlooking the St Croix Valley which will be especially colorful this autumn when they are hosting the exhibit. Barb Bend and Carol Benish hope to have school children make paper prairie plants with roots of yarn and telephone wire to hang from the windows. Favorably, the Arts Center theme for the year is sustainability!
Carol and Don Nelson have been busy making arrangements to host our exhibit at the Pump House in La Crosse. It is on the Mississippi and is a beautifully restored historic building that had gone to ruins before the Arts community transformed it. They welcome us as prairie protectors and fellow “restorationists.” UW-Platteville will provide their campus art gallery and even free hors d’ oeuvres for the reception. Thanks to TPE member Jeff Huebschman who teaches there. Several other chapters have already set up their locations as well. Look for my article about it in this newsletter.
The excitement is building around Rochester, MN as the Prairie Smoke chapter comes smoking toward the finish line for the Annual TPE conference. They had some great coverage with front page articles written in local newspapers about the event. They doubled their membership in preparation and will probably gained even more members with all their local advertising. They are out-doing themselves with a special concert, kid’s activities and other new twists this year. By the time this newsletter is published it will all be over. With the knowledge gained from the speakers and panels, I’m sure those of us who attend will have enriched our lives and become better protectors of the prairies we love. Thanks to everyone in the Prairie Smoke chapter who helped put it all together.
Teamwork is a very important strength of The Prairie Enthusiasts. Our community spirit and visible accomplishments are what make work parties pleasurable despite the hot, hard work. Some of the chapters are very concerned that they need to attract more folks to be involved not only out if the field but also on their boards or else their many years of achievements could slip backwards. It is often the case with volunteer organizations that the first wave of people were so busy enthusiastically working on their projects that they forgot to recruit and train the next wave to follow in their footsteps. One chapter even may have to dissolve soon if they cannot find new members for their board of directors. If you are a new member, please contact your chapter board to ask how you can help out.
Our membership coordinator, Victoria Oberle, can provide chapters with an updated list of your members and some chapters create useful membership directories to hand out. We are currently inputting the info we gathered from the membership data cards you returned during the annual campaign. We will be sending the cards out again this spring to those of you who did not send yours in so we can complete the project. If you still have your data card sitting under papers on your desk please send it in to save us the postage cost of sending a reminder.
With the new brochure, the photography exhibit and our revised website, we’re attracting more new faces (we hope that they’re attached to strong backs). We are growing in numbers, however, the key is to get new people involved right away while their enthusiasm is still fresh. Try making a special effort to personally invite members to meetings. Ask them to ride with you to a work party or field trip, serve on a committee or volunteer for even a few hours at a local event like the photography exhibit. This way new members will have more chances to get to know us at our best and realize that even a small amount of their time or financial resources will have important consequences for the future. When people do provide special donations or give of their time, how does your chapter thank them?
I am here to help support and promote all the chapters. I can help you write and send press releases, letters of request or acknowledgements and other materials to reach out to your members. I am putting together a power point presentation about TPE and writing the annual report for 2005. Please keep me informed of your accomplishments so I can let the world know our Olympic-quality team of Prairie Enthusiasts is setting the world on fire! Of course, I only mean that figuratively since everyone will be strictly following the prescribed burn policies reviewed in this edition of the Prairie Promoter.