HOSTESSES:  CAROLINE DAVIS & SARAH KENNEDY

Call To Order: Catherine Fleetwood

Catherine called the meeting to order and thanked our hostesses, Sarah Kennedy & Caroline Davis, for providing such a beautiful lunch honoring the 75th anniversary of The Speech School.

Treasurers Report-  Julie Harlan gave an in depth report on the finances of our club.  She prepared an extensive spread sheet explaining our budget, and passed out copies to all of the members.  Kendrick again reminded the membership that there are still outstanding dues owed by twelve members.  A late fee of 25.00 will be attached to dues paid after the January meeting.

Speech School – Terry Alston went over the landscape projects for the courtyard, which were professionally done in the fall.  The next workday will be sometime in the spring, date and time to be announced.

Quarry Garden– Jinny Keough read a letter from Sheffield Hale thanking us for our contribution to the History Center.  She followed this by the email from Sarah Roberts, the curator of the Quarry Garden, listing some of the projects that will hopefully be implemented with the money gifted to them for improvement and maintenance of the gardens.  They are hoping to purchase a leaf shredder, replant the entrance to the gardens, and take care of some badly needed pruning of trees.

Corresponding Secretary – All Mimosa related announcements should be emailed to Rawson Grobety in the exact way they should be sent out, and she will take care of forwarding them to the members.

Yearbook–   Yearbooks can be picked up by all members who have paid their dues for this year.  Elkin Alston was mistakenly omitted from the 2012-13 yearbook which will be rectified for next year, and in the meantime, her information can be found on our new Mimosa website.

Membership – Emily Ferguson and Mary Mac Southerland passed the sign-up poster for hosting meetings.  Also, in reference to membership, CATHERINE ANNOUNCED THAT WE HAVE 3 OPENINGS FOR NEW MEMBERS FOR NEXT YEAR, AND SHE HAS THE FORMS FOR ANYONE INTERESTED.

Historian – Sallie Smith shared about her interview with Bettye Maddox who has been integrally involved with the Speech School for many years.  It was during her presidency that Mimosa’s work was completed for the Speech School garden. It was noted that Sallie’s interviews with our longstanding, not to mention outstanding, members, will be available on our website in the near future.

Flower Show– Claire Marie Huff, Shelby Drinkard & Mandy Culpepper gave a report on the sale of amaryllis bulbs to Mimosa members, which as gorgeous, mature plants (!), will be entered in the upcoming Southeastern Flower Show.

Please be sure to mark the dates on your calendars now, which are March 15th – March 17th.  Mandy held the first meeting at her house to begin planning Mimosa’s main entry, which is the project for the newest members of Mimosa.  The flower show website is:  www.sehort.org which is where the online entry forms will be available.

Nominating Committee-

New members of the nominating committee for 2013 are:  Maysie Beeson, Mary Mac Southerland, Marcy McTier, Emily Jordan & Catherine Fleetwood.

Announcements:

The North Georgia Camellia Society will present the 65th annual Atlanta Camellia show at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens.

Brochures and membership applications for ACF stakeholders (Brad Curry’s group) are available.

Danielle Rollins, who is speaking at our April meeting, will be bringing a few of her books “SOIREE, to be purchased at that time.  If you would like for her to sign a copy of an already purchased book, bring it to the meeting, and, if you would like to purchase “SOIREE” prior to the meeting, you can do so on Amazon.

Website: Eileen Millard gave a thorough and fascinating presentation of the new Mimosa website, which she has been diligently working on, along with a consultant, the past two years.  She was presented with a beautiful plant in appreciation for her hard work and commitment to this huge project.  Eileen thanked Jackie Cushman for her contributions, which were generously donated on a pro bono basis.  Website expenses will be a part of our annual budget going forward, and we can now find our Mimosa Directory online.  The hard copy of the directory will be gradually phased out, with the exception of those members who don’t use computers.  Mimosa members were encouraged to go online to check out the website, and to direct any suggestions to Eileen.  Great job Eileen!!!  (To log in go to www.mimosagardenclub.com , type in “Mimosa” for user name and “Atlanta” for password.)

VERY IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:  LOCATION CHANGE FOR THE MARCH MEETING !  IT WILL NOW BE HELD AT LOUISE MANN’S HOUSE, WHICH IS 21 VERNON ROAD, NOT AT BLAIRE MANN’S HOUSE!!!  THE MARCH 26TH MEETING WILL BEGIN AT 10:15.

The business meeting was adjourned and Comer Yates, Executive Director of the Atlanta Speech School, thanked Mimosa for their 53 years of support, and proceeded to give a wonderfully informative talk about their illustrious history, mentioning that over two million children had benefitted from the Speech School’s services, and not one child had ever been turned away because of financial hardship!  He then ended his talk by noting that students had created lovely note cards which were pencil drawings depicting the Speech School gardens, and had been put together as a gift of appreciation for Mimosa members.

Respectfully submitted,

Marianne Craft & Margie Hutchison