Our Valley Home 4-H’ers will be welcoming new members and their families and handing out awards for last year’s accomplishments tonight, November 16th, at the group’s annual Potluck and Awards Banquet. Lots of good food will be shared, followed by recognition given for all the hard work accomplished by members throughout the year. Topping off the evening, members will have an opportunity to enjoy a special slide show featuring all the good times enjoyed throughout the year.
The 4-H’ers would also like to invite everyone to come by their bake sale being held this Saturday, November 19th, at Tractor Supply in Oakdale and support the club. Why not stock up on some of these delicious goodies for Thanksgiving! We have received word that 4-H leader Terri Pouncey’s Food Preservation group made homemade applesauce to contribute to the sale and that it is delicious. Many mouth watering items will be offered!
The 4-H archery group had a meeting this past Saturday at the home of leaders Ray and Janette Weaver It was a very special day for the group as the school for the blind was also participating. The Weavers encouraged all, even the adults that attended. It was a very nice day!
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Cheers and congratulations go out to our Oakdale Mustangs football team on their playoff win this past week. We are very proud that three of the team members are from Valley Home, Austin Jones, Jordan McCain and Nick Garza.
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Mark your calendar for Saturday, December 10th as this is the date of the Annual 4-H Christmas Parade around the Valley Home community followed by a delicious potluck dinner in the Valley Home School Multi-purpose Room. A special event is planned to happen after the parade and before the dinner and that is the lighting of a community Christmas tree in the Valley Home Park. More on these festivities in next week’s column.
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Valley Home residents are saddened to have received word that former Valley Home resident, Arlene Cullum passed away on November 8th. We offer our deepest sympathy to her children, Ken Cullum (Jeanine), Cheryl Todd (Scott) and Linda Kupper (John) in their loss. Arlene will be sadly missed by all who had the pleasure of knowing and working with her.
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The Valley Home Community Center board of directors would like to introduce the new members of the board. To replace the three members who resigned in the past few months, the remaining board members elected Don Taro, Winnie Mullins and Ralph Damante to the board. Each of these persons has a great deal to add to the operation of the community center and we look forward to lots of events ahead. Don Taro was elected chairman of the board. The other members are Glenn Burghardt, who is temporarily continuing as both Secretary and Treasurer, and Roger Beymer.
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The troubling news regarding the Valley Home Community Park is that it continues to be the recipient of costly vandalism. The word is (rumor or fact?) that a school student is the person who is doing the damage and this is so hard to understand. Why would someone damage the community’s park? Does this person realize that the repairs will be costly and will have to be paid by the Valley Home Community Center which IS THE COMMUNITY? The cost to replace the two large broken lenses on the lights and one of the large mercury vapor light bulbs is estimated at over $700. At this time, the money is not available and the replacement will be delayed until spring. The board would like to thank Joe Perez and Tom Winchester for their temporary repair and installation of a screen guard on the lighting fixtures. If by chance you know this boy, please explain what happens as a result of a foolish act of vandalism.
