FCS Ambassadors Newsletter Spring 2024 Vol. 35 No. 1
President's Message
As I prepare this message, I think of the word appreciation (defined also as gratitude, gratefulness, pleasure, admiration, or thanks). CE-FCS Ambassadors continue to lead by example. Through our donations, we provide necessary funds for eligible Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Educators, State Specialists and Oklahoma Home and Community Education (OHCE) to answer requests for specific programs within our state’s counties. To become eligible to apply for CE-FCS Ambassador Program Development Grants and Awards, a member must donate a minimum of $25. To become a member, please make a minimum $10 donation.
Here’s how:
- Visit https://okla.st/fcsamb and scroll down to ‘Give.’
- Click ‘Print and mail donation form’ to complete and mail a copy, OR
- Click ‘Give to Cooperative Extension FCS Ambassadors Fund’ to give online.
Two quotes for us to keep in mind as we continue to represent CE-FCS Ambassadors:
- “Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.” —Henry Ford
- “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.” —Robert Louis Stevenson
We will plant the seeds of success together. I appreciate you for sharing your time and dedication for our organization, and I look forward to our annual meeting on May 15, 2024, at Oklahoma County OSU Extension, where we will hear from our Grants and Awards Committee as they announce the winners of our grants and awards.
Be Safe, Take Care and Stay Strong!
Tara Brown | President
Advisor & Ex-Officio Message
Treasurer & Finance
Financial Report Budget Snapshot as of January 30, 2024:
Ambassador Report
- Total Revenue: $226,687.83
- Total Expenses: $37,455.92
- Total Value Endowment: $1,236,329.80
Fitch Report
- Total Revenue: $65,941.69
- Total Expenses: $5,057.38
- Total Value Endowment: $233,174.61
Thank you to everyone who continues to support the FCS Ambassadors. Remember to make your 2024 donation to FCS Ambassadors. A $25 donation is required if you wish to apply for a grant. Any donation amount ($10 minimum) is appreciated, and helps continue the FCS Ambassadors’ work. Give at okla.st/giving.
Dea Rash | Finance Committee Chair and Treasurer
Awards Luncheon
Join us in having a “Sweet” time at the CE-FCS Ambassador Annual Awards Luncheon and
Meeting to be held at the Oklahoma County OSU Extension Center on May 15, 2024, at
11 a.m. We will be recognizing members with some “Sweet” awards. Our lunch will be
chicken salad sandwiches with a salad and fruit buffet. Reservations and payment of
$25 per person are due by April 30, 2024, to:
Oklahoma County OSU Extension Office
ATTN: Ladonna Hines
2500 NE 63rd
Oklahoma City, OK 73111
Credit card payment: Call (405) 713-1125.
For questions, contact Trinity Brown at the Pawnee County Extension Office at (918) 762-2735 or email trinity.brown@okstate.edu.
Trinity Brown | Vice President and Annual Meeting Committee Chair
ARCHIVES
On The Shoulders of Giants
“If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” – Sir Isaac Newton, 1675
The Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service and CE-FCS Ambassadors lost a giant among
their peers this past summer. Recia Garcia, a charter member of the CE-FCS Ambassadors,
passed away in June 2023 due to an illness. Recia was a true friend in work and beyond.
We attended each other’s weddings and stood beside each other as we buried parents.
She was a mentor and always a cheerleader when the challenges of work were difficult.
For those who knew her, her legacy lives on in the nuggets of wisdom she taught by
example. For others, I’ve included a partial list of her guiding principles, in HER
OWN WORDS. Watch for the remainder of her list in the next newsletter.
In general, consider service as your top priority and our organization’s purpose for existing! Help and assist where you can and are welcomed, regardless of program area. Listen strategically for:Speak up on behalf of those who are not present to represent themselves or their group! Be a liaison, an interpreter, an assessor and advocate – for field staff and campus. Be an ambassador for OCES.
- Needs of those you serve (educators, OHCE, peers, administrators, and others) – such as community or state agency partners.
- Problems/barriers – what is troubling people, or holding up progress? Even their “worry” merited or otherwise, can consume precious energy and waste time.
- Solutions – Others, individually or combined, often have “the” solution and may not even realize it! You may hear the solution through careful listening. You don’t have to own or be the originator of every solution, but help problem solve whenever you can.
- Opportunities for: expressing appreciation, gratitude, praise, congratulations, sympathy; sharing your own goals, visions, needs, desires, concerns; networking, linking, teaming up; informing, explaining our good work, our direction.
- Gaps – where are they? Are they critical? Can we fill them appropriately? If not, who can?
Recia’s insights into servant leadership apply with positive impact to our roles with OCES, OHCE and CE-FCS Ambassadors. She passed along this sage advice by example, and she invites us to collectively stand on her shoulders. Recia, my friend, you will always be missed, and we thank you.
Brenda Sheik | Achives Committee Chair
Committee Reports
Nominating
The nominating committee is pleased to share the following slate of officers/directors:
President-Elect, Jan Dawson
Secretary, Jean Bailey
Treasurer, Jenni Klufa
Directors, Karen Armbruster, Kathy Enyart, April Green, April Hauenstein, Megan Monteith
Dana Baldwin | Nominating Committee Chair
Grants & Awards
The CE-FCS Ambassador Grants and Awards Applications are due on Wednesday, April 10th. The Grants and Awards Committee will meet on April 16th to review the 2024-2025 applications. They will then present their recommendations to the board for final approval. Notifications will be mailed to each grant recipient. All grant and award recipients will be recognized at the CE-FCS Ambassador Awards Luncheon on May 15th.
Kristy Spalding | Grants & Awards Committee Chair
Communications
We are pleased to present to you this 2024 Spring FCS Ambassador Newsletter. In it, you will find information about our upcoming annual meeting, officer nominees, budget information and more. The FCS Ambassadors organization provides two newsletters per year, spring and fall, determined by the Board of Directors.
Linda Lowber | Communications Committee Chair
Committees
Annual Meeting Committee
- Cheryl Lively
- Cindy Conner
- LaDonna Hines
- Lesa Rauh
- Leslye Owen
- Tara Brown
- Trinity Brown
Public Relations & Recruitment Committee
- April Green
- April Hauenstein
- Jan Dawson
- Megan Anderson
- Penny King
- Suzette Barta
